Blank Check with Griffin & David - Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber

Episode Date: March 15, 2020

Who? Weekly hosts Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber talk about Demme's last film, written by Diablo Cody. But they really just want to talk about Tully. It's a film about dead beat [get it? BEAT??] Moms with Meryl's real daughter, and Griffin is so laid back he has his microphone in his lap. What works for Wild Rose that doesn't work for this film? Can we talk about her INSANE TATTOO FOR A SECOND? And what's the best place to watch this movie?

No, a heart isn't something that's like a steak, you know, that spoils. A heart is like a podcast. It just sits and sits and sits. It gets older, but it doesn't change. It lives forever. I saw it on 60 Minutes. Good call. Right?

Yeah. That's quite a line. Diablo Cody writes lines like that. Let's just say, this episode has to like 50% be Diablo Cody talk. Yeah, I'm sorry. It's Diablo, not Diablo Cody talk. Diablo. I'm sorry. It's Diablo, not Diablo. But we've never talked about her before. No.

Right? No. We haven't done our Jason Reitman miniseries. One of our guests is aghast. Half her movies have been directed by Jason Reitman, who I will happily do on this podcast in the year 3000. Right. By the time we get to Ghostbusters Afterlife Apocalypse.

And then, like, you got a Demi, Karen Kusama? Yeah. We could do her. Sure. But, I mean, one could argue. Jennifer's podcast. Jennifer's podcast. I don't know.

One could argue she has not had the big film yet I mean like Eon Flux was her blank check that bounced oh Karen Kusama right right yeah sure sure but yes it would be Eon Flux would be the argument but Diablo Cody is one of these like few modern screenwriters who is like

she's recognizable all by herself an author she's only directed one movie it's her least known movie let's not talk about that one. We'll talk about all of this. Have you guys seen Paradise? We haven't. You have? You can talk.

You can talk. No, I've seen it. I'm a Diablo Cody completist. I've seen Jagged Little Pill the musical. I have. Recently debuted on Broadway. Which is horrendous. Is it really?

Yes. Someone sat me down and described the plot of it to me. I feel terrible saying that. I've been avoiding saying that publicly. That you don't like the musical. That I didn't love it. I had a lot of issues with it. But I love Diablo Cody.

I love Diablo Cody too. Love her. And I loved watching this movie. And we would stop. We would hear a line and just be like, that is the most fucking Diablo Cody shit I've ever heard in my life. I generally like Diablo Cody, but also there's always like 20%

in each movie where I'm like, okay, all right. You know, like there's always things where I'm like too much paprika, but like I do enjoy it. I agree with that, but that's also what makes her like,

well. Also Jason Reitman directs a lot of her movies who I increasingly cannot stand. But David, David, you have to put your personal opinions aside, okay? And look at the larger political issue, which is that Jason Reitman has given Ghostbusters back to the fans. Thank God he has.

They deserved it. The fans were so well behaved. They were sitting silently and patiently waiting to get their Ghostbusters. Lisa, can I have some Ghostbusters? That's the fucking worst. Slop. He gave it back! That trailer, have you guys seen the trailer for Ghostbusters? This is the fucking worst. Slap. He gave it back! That trailer, have you guys seen the trailer for Ghostbusters?

It's so funny. It shows in that trailer. Yeah, it's so weird. I'm so mad at it. The New York comedy Ghostbusters. Does nobody remember the last one? Do they just want us to forget that happened or whatever? They're like, never mind.

He was like, how dare you make Ghostbusters with one of them? Stranger Things Ghostbusters. I'm making it with children. Ghostbusters children. Ghostbusters children. How dare you make Ghostbusters with four comedians who have all worked together in different configurations and have innate chemistry like the original Ghostbusters. We're getting

Carrie Coon and Tracy Letts and a bunch of children. And a bunch of children. And a bunch of boys. And a little girl. And a girl who looks like Harold Ramis. I'm going to root for her. I like her little round glasses. Jason Reitman said, you know, I never thought I'd make a Ghostbusters movie.

This is what he said when they announced the film. I never thought I'd make a Ghostbusters movie. And then one day I was suddenly just struck with this image of a little girl standing in the middle of a cornfield wearing a proton pack. And I went, who is this girl? I need to figure this out. And that's how all my best stories come to me. I find an image of a check from

Sony Columbia. Right, I have an image of an offer sent in an email. For five million dollars. I had to investigate. I haven't heard that story, but that reminds me of the Darren Aronofsky story about writing the title for Mother. And he's like, I just wrote the word Mother and then I decided I need an exclamation mark,

and then I typed the exclamation mark, and I knew I had a movie title. It was something like that. It's a capital M. It's cleaner. Yes. Lowercase mother. Mother.

Mother. That movie deserves the exclamation point. We need to do that movie. Which movie? Mother. Mother. I can finally tell my Clooney story on here. Your Clooney story? I. Your Clooney story?

I have a Clooney story about Mother. About Mother? He's not even in that. He's not, but I can tell my Clooney story. Was it from when you interviewed him at TIFF?

Yeah. See, this is why you guys have a Patreon. These are all the stories from the Patreon. Yes. Ghostbusters Afterlife, before we introduce our guests

in our podcast. I thought you were going to say we have to do an episode on Ghostbusters. We got it. No, we absolutely know. But in the trailer when I think it's the little girl says like

it has a gunner seat. Eganita. I think her name is Egan. Right. I was like we need to ban children from films forever. It has a gunner seat? Who says that? Get out of here. It looks so funny. I do love how funny it looks out of here. Jesus. Anyway. It looks so funny.

I do love how funny it looks. The joke's in the trailer. It's as funny as the Martian. I'm trying to think. I don't want to think about it. The tourist. It hurts me. Clearly no one else in this recording studio

checks Ghostbustersnews.com because they are fucking creaming their jeans. They are jizzing their tan jumpsuits over those shots. Is there going to be like a flashback where someone drove the fucking car to Arizona or whatever like are we gonna

explain that it gets put on a flatbed truck can I tell you what I'm really dreading CGI young Harold Raymond I was gonna say

Irishman technology we have it use it Ghostbusters to resurrect him it is a ghost alright whatever interest the podcast

and our guests, please. Hello, everybody. My name's Griffin Newman. My name's David Simms. This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin Newman. I'm David Simms. This is a podcast about filmographies, and I'm Griffin Newman.

David Simms over here. Directors who have massive success early on in their careers give a series of blank checks and make whatever crazy passion products they want. Sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce.

Baby, I'm Griffin Newman. And I'm Florence Pugh. I'm sorry, David Sims. We are finishing our mini-series on Jonathan Demme. Yep. Yeah, it's been

what are... It's been four months? Three and a half months? The longest filmography we've done. I think Burton was longer. I think Burton was longer. I think Burton felt longer. Burton sure felt longer.

There's no question about that. Burton was like flying by a black hole or whatever, where you exit the Burton miniseries, and your children are grown. Timothy turned into Casey Affleck. His voice got higher. Hey, Dad, how you doing? I miss you, Dad.

It's me, your son, Casey Affleck. You know, I'm a grown up now. All right. I'm sorry. Continue introducing the podcast. May series has been called Stop Making Podcasts. But we won't. We won't.

No. We will continue. Today, we're talking about Ricky and the Flash. His last dramatic film. His last fiction. Yes. Whatever. And we have two guests on the episode today. And I was saying film. His last fiction. Yes. Whatever. And we have two guests

on the episode today and I was saying before you showed up. Right. We have Ricky and The Flash. We have Ricky and The Flash

both guests today. By The Flash you mean the superhero. Yes. We have Ricky, Martin, and Grant Gustin here as guests

on the show today. Today, guesting on the show, we have two wonderful people. One returning guest, one first-time guest. But I was saying before, you arrived. I was late.

Because some of us were only seven minutes late. Right, I was, I believe, nine minutes late. We were on time, by the way. Congratulations. I'm very sorry that I was a little late. Really, I'm sorry. I felt horrible about it. I was talking about how unlikely a winner

Demi seemed to be in our March Madness competition to pick the next miniseries. And that a big thumb on the scales was these two guests vouching for Ricky. We literally had to make our fans vote so I could get on this fucking podcast. But I think it fucking, I mean, look, it worked. And I think it was a big reason he won. I think we saw like this major influx. There were a couple people who were like, hey, you

might think Demi is some no-name fool, but he made a movie we want to talk about. Who Weekly listeners love Philadelphia. That's the thing. They do love Philadelphia. We had a Philadelphia bit for a while. We love Philadelphia. Bobby Finger, Lindsay Weber, Who Weekly. Hi. You're on the show by demand.

By campaigning. By self-demand. Our Demi is Lovato, so it's weird to hear you say Demi repeatedly, and I think I keep thinking of Lovato. Sure. She made some great films, too. She's made some great films. What's the last Demi Lovato movie?

What's the last time she was in a movie? Camp Rock 2. Yeah, Camp Rock. Return of the Rock. Do like a non-kids movie? Probably. I, Camp Rock. Return of the Rock. Did she ever do like a non kids movie? Probably. I don't remember. Maybe a bit role. No, she didn't really. I don't think so.

It's kind of weird that she never did like a Hudgens. Well, I'll tell you this. Camp Rock, you guys are forgetting Camp Rock 3, which apparently exists. I assume she wasn't in 3. No, also, it's not. It hasn't come out yet. There there's just a picture of Jonas. And it says, what does it say?

How dare you disrespect us. It says plot kept in wraps. Which is like so grammatically incorrect. I knew there was only two camp rocks. Plot kept on wheat. So her last, she was apparently in a film called Charming? Nope.

Let me see that. Oh, no, I'm sorry. You misread that. The title of the film is Charming. That doesn't count. It's animated. It's a tune. You're right that it's a tune.

So if we keep going back, she was Smurfette in Smurfs the Lost Village. Doesn't count. She has a voice, too. No, very much counts. Apparently, she had an uncredited cameo in Zoolander 2, which I did see. Oh, didn't everyone have a cameo in that movie? It's so fucking god awful. The cameos, but also all the other parts.

The jokes in that movie. He gave Zoolander back to the fans. It literally is like Camp Rock 2. She's basically never done movies. Amazing. But I was going to say, this year she's in Eurovision. The Will Ferrell comedy about Eurovision. Very anxious about that.

We're going. Really? We've been and we're going. Where is it this year? Rotterdam. Is it still the same system where the winner has to host? Yeah. So last year was in Israel.

We did not want to go to Israel. That seems like a sort of a schlep. We did go to Portugal for the one two years ago, our first Eurovision. But this is exciting because if Eurovision, the movie, is at all impactful, Americans might give a shit about Eurovision for the first time in our history. Now, are they, America now competes? Is this correct? No.

No, okay. Because I mean, all right, so I grew up in Britain. Just get it out of the fucking way. You guys, Britain competes. They're terrible. No, I'm aware of that. Griffin does a bit. Yes, I know. I listen to the podcast. Trying get it out of the fucking way. You guys can be, Britain competes. They're terrible. No, I'm aware of that. Griffin does it. Yes, I know.

I listen to the podcast. Trying to get him over the hump here. Okay, go on. It might take me a couple hours to process. Okay. But I grew up in Britain. So you're saying you've entered Eurovision. I used to love Eurovision.

I used to watch it every year. In Britain, of course, it's a story tradition to watch it mockingly. And Terry Wogan, the old, he's now dead but r.i.p would would sort of do the voiceover and he'd be like you know like would be sarcastic and then you would always tell the half of europe was like yeah this is it if we don't fucking win this that's it for latvia you know like britain knows they're not gonna win right so they think it's funny but also like each depending on how you watch in america i would say last year we watched it with a sweden because like the swedish stream was easiest to find, and we watched with a Sweden host,

and they were really into it. But you can find different perspectives based on where you're watching it from, technically. Can you tell me the last time Britain won Eurovision? The 80s? It was 1997 or 8, right around that. It was right after Tony Blair's election. It was when Britain was like, the country has changed. It's like it's all happening with an exciting time.

Katrina and the Waves. Oh, yeah. Walking on Sunshine. Not for Walking on Sunshine, but for a song called Love Shine a Light. Amazing. It's amazing. I just remember all that. And like, even though Britain loves to make fun of Eurovision, the country was thrilled.

We were so happy. Yes. You know, Lindsay, you were saying that you hope this movie leaves an impact on American culture. Yes. I have a prediction because it's a Netflix original movie. I think it's going to get 40 million views the first three days. And nominated for a Best Picture.

A hundred percent. Eurovision grosses the equivalent of $8 billion in one hour. It's always $40 million and $8 billion. Did you see the Rob Lowe quote this morning? No. Did you see the Rob Lowe quote this morning? Did you see the new Demi Lovato film? Rob Lowe, I don't even know who ambushed him, but I read this on Just Jared, our gossip website.

And he said, again, I don't know who asked him this, but he said his Holiday in the Wild movie, his elephant movie that he made with Kristen Davis, I watched it. had more views than The Irishman. He's very proud of it. And he said, my movie, he said something like,

my dumb little movie that I made about elephants in Africa had more viewers than Irishman, and I was told not to tell anyone that. Wow. He's very proud of it. Because they were like yeah, let me check here Rob. I'm seeing 100 million views. There's one person's

job. It is a Netflix to email all the stars and be like your movie got more than the Irishman. This is a secret. It's a trade secret. Yours is secretly the number one of all time. Was that movie a Netflix original? Yeah. Oh yeah. It's a trade-off. Don't tell anyone. Secretly the number one of all time. Was that movie a Netflix original? Oh, yeah. It's called Holiday in the Wild.

No, I know the existence of the movie. I didn't know it was a Netflix film. Chris and Davis and Rob Lowe meet in Africa. They fall in love with the magic of elephants. They both love them. She's a vet. He's a guy who lives with the elephants. Amazing. What country are they in lives with the elephants. Amazing.

What country are they in? Zambia? Yeah. And it ends with them saying something like, an elephant always remembers. I think that's the end of it. An elephant never forgets. That is, all bits aside,

that is the perfect example of a humblebrag. Look, I'm not supposed to share this, but my stupid little movie is the most watched thing in history. No, it's amazing. It's really good. But also, if you said Holiday in the Wild got more views, meaning somebody watched two minutes of it than The Irishman,

I would say, I believe it. Because think about that. That's what was on the bottom of their graphics from last week that was like, here's the most watched content on Netflix this year and then the asterisk is like more than

two minutes two minutes yeah it's like I bet a lot of people watch two minutes to be fair I watch every minute of

Murder Mystery and The Irishman did I? yeah Murder Mystery is great which were the two highest grossing films of 2019

yeah right if you adjust for the view clicks if every click was worth a billion dollars I will say that we're mad we don't get

numbers from Netflix but I don't want them if they're like this. This is bullshit. Right, it's bullshit. I think we would all be scared by the actual numbers. Yeah. Right.

But if you sell a ticket to a movie, and then after two minutes they're like, you know, they pull the sign and they leave. That counts, I guess, right? I guess, but most theaters will refund your ticket. Now, do they subtract it from the gross? Now, that's the scam. I think they might. Well, that's a great question.

Do you think they immediately call the box office reporters and they're like, actually, knock eight bucks off. I want a refund and I would like you to subtract me from the gross. I'm sorry, I got the real quote. I just did a movie for Netflix. It was the number one movie they have. What? It was a stupid Christmas elephant movie. Take that, Martin Scorsese.

They were like, don't tell anybody. Wait, that's an amazing quote. What a series. He called it... He called it a movie stupid? Stupid Christmas elephant movie. These dumb fucking elephants.

Wait, he's so right. It was a stupid Christmas elephant movie. Your quote was so much more generous by calling it stupid little because that at least sounds a little endearing.

Just call it my stupid Christmas elephant movie. But I love that all Netflix ratings are claims. So like this people, the people headline is Rob Lowe claims his Netflix Christmas movie beat the Irishman. Colin, take that. That's a great quote. That's a great quote. It's wonderful. But also why not?

I mean, this episode has already gotten more listens than the Irishman, right? Yeah. If you count two minutes. 30 seconds. We don't have to release the data. We can say whatever we want. Same. We don't either.

This episode, in terms of listenership, has just passed eight stupid elephant movies. Eight. My favorite question, if we're ever in, which is, this is not a humble brag, but when we've been interviewed about the podcast by journalists, and they're like, so how many listens do you get? We're like, I'm not telling you that. Nobody says to say, we don't know, and also it's unclear. We're just like, we're not telling you.

The reporting is not... More than the Irishman. Definitely more than the Irishman. More than the Irishman. No question, more than the Irishman. Okay, so Diablo Cody. Lindsay, you're a completist. I love her. Are you a completist? No, because I haven Cody. Lindsay, you're a completist. I love her.

Are you a completist? No, because I haven't seen that. You haven't seen Paradise. I've seen everything else. But Bobby's favorite movie of the year it came out was Tully. I love Tully. He loves Tully.

I love, love, love, love, love, love Tully. She's a mermaid. Tully's all right. I love, love, love, love, love Tully. You love Tully. It was maybe my number two. It was maybe my number two, but I don't remember my number one.

Young Adult. Love that movie. I remember my number one. Young Adult. Love that movie. I love Young Adult. Love Young Adult. Jennifer's Body, incredible. Jennifer's Body, good. A lot of movies that I would like to re-watch, though. I wonder how Young Adult,

I haven't seen it since 10 years ago. I like Juno more, as you know, 30-something than I did, however old I was when it came out. I adore Juno. I think Juno almost gets a bad rap. It does. Almost.

It does get a bad rap. I mean, it obviously made a ton of money. It was Oscar winning. But there was so much pushback at the time, and I feel like the pushback has overwhelmed everything. Young Adult had, in my mind, been my favorite thing she's done. And then I rewatched it like a couple weeks ago. It did not age particularly well for me.

Not in that anything had held up poorly culturally, but it just felt a little bit overcranked. In my mind's eye, I was... That's how I feel about all her stuff. Sometimes I'm like, I get it, Diablo. You don't have to... Well, that's what's interesting. But I still like it.

I was re-watching it in anticipation of trying to put together a best of the decade list. And I was like, is there any chance Young Adult makes my best of the decade? Is there any chance I put Charlize Theron in my best actress? Rewatched it. And I was like, I love so much about this film. I think it's like 10 to 15 percent overwritten. I think there are just elements in which she just puts her thumb on the scale a little too hard.

But conceptually, I love almost everything about that movie. And then Ricky and the Flash is like the inverse of that where I'm like this is like 10-15% underwritten. I agree with that. It's weirdly lacking in catharsis. I kept being like I love the concept of this movie. Totally. Like if you pitch this movie to me

like just explain to me what it was about. I'd be like, that's incredible. Yeah. I love this idea. We do not have any movies about deadbeat moms. Totally. We do not have movies that talk about older women in this way. And then you see it and you're like, fuck, they did it wrong.

Yeah. So you're not a big fan of old Ricky. I don't. I wanted to be. You couldn't get ready for it. I wanted to come on this pod and be like, I stand for Ricky. I'm the Ricky stand. Like, fight me.

But I couldn't. I couldn't in good conscience. And also Bobby watched me watch it. I couldn't also come here and lie. I was very disappointed. We watched each other really have a miserable time yesterday. With the execution of Ricky and the Flash. That's Demi's fault. It's just a movie that maybe had a lot of promise

and an amazing original script and was pitched in the room really well. Meryl singing. Meryl singing. Oh, my God, this story. And Diablo is a perfect writer to write a woman this way. Like, I just. Will not reveal sources. Will not overshare information.

Please do. But we have heard that he was not particularly happy with this movie, Demi. He shouldn't have been. That is fair to say, right? That is all I'm going to say to that extent. Putting my hands up. We have heard some whisperings that he was not particularly happy with this movie. I think this movie is a pain

in the ass to me. That's all. And I think it's at a weird level of like in a certain way if you're Diablo Cody, you have this script. It makes a lot of sense to bring Demian to do it off of Rachel getting married. Yes. And music. Right.

And music. If you go, like, you're getting the guy who did Stop Making Sense and Rachel getting married. He worked with Meryl on The Venturian Candidate. Yeah. So they have an existing relationship. Yeah. He worked with Meryl on The Venturian Candidate, so they have an existing relationship. On paper, it makes perfect sense, but this is also kind of the end of the Meryl leading lady studio comedy run. Starting with Mamma Mia, you mean? Yeah.

Kind of like seven, eight years. Starting with Devil Wears Prada. Starting with Devil Wears Prada. Mamma Mia, Julie and Julia. Excuse me, what about Prime? Love Julie and Julia. Prime, okay, Julie and Julia. Excuse me, what about Prime? Love Julie and Julia. Prime, okay. Julie and Julia holds up,

gets better with age. Just like Meryl. So the thing, Mamma Mia, Julie and Julia, of course the great comedy Doubt. A knee slapper. Let's not forget

that it was once complicated. It was very complicated and it made $100 million. That's right. Hope at one point sprang. Right. That's a little bit of a bounce. And the giver, she was so stern.

But this. No, I'm kidding about the giver. But yes, you're right. Well, Florence Foster Jenkins, though. Oh, boy. That's the last, last one. But that's also a little more prestige. Better than this.

Yeah. Yes, it is. No. No, wait a second more prestige. Better than this. Yeah. Yes, it is. No. No, wait a second. I like Lawrence Foster Jenkins. Bobby, you have to reveal. Lawrence Foster Jenkins. Wait, but you have to reveal you went to the premiere of that. That was actually very iconic.

It wasn't the premiere. It was a screening, and I was in the elevator with her, and I had a nice little mirror. Like, I went to the premiere of Suffragette, and that's when I first saw Meryl in person. And that movie is one of the worst things ever. But I also was kind of like, is it good? Because Meryl was there. I will never top the moment when I complimented Florence Foster Jenkins to Meryl Streep in an elevator. And she said, sometimes you need a little tonic.

And then I was like, and then my opinion of Florence Foster Jenkins went from a C-plus to an A-minus. I was like, what a great movie. David, that's a pretty compelling argument. Hugh Grant is extremely good at movies. I was about to say, Florence Foster Jenkins is a C, C-minus with an A-plus Hugh Grant. He is really working on the movie. Who directed that? Stephen Frears, the king of mediocrity.

He's made like five masterpieces. But once in a while he's like, I make like a kind of a piece of shit that gets an Oscar nomination that sort of clog you know that beats out someone good and Meryl's like hello

or Judy's like yes but I like damn it I like her singing and like that's a more interesting performance

because we know she's a bad singer you mean like Meryl is a bad singer Bobby's number one issue here my number one issue with Ricky and the Flash is, Ricky and the Flash, Lindsay and I used to go to this dive bar.

Shout it out. You know Montero's? Yes. And they didn't have singing there, but they had a KJ who sometimes sang, and she'd work there forever. She was just like a part. Shout out to Amethyst Valentino,

the KJ at Montero's Bongo. She felt like decoration of this bar. She was a fixture of it. She is. And she sang sometimes, and she was pretty good. And it was like, she felt like a regular, and I couldn't tell if I was supposed to think Ricky was a good singer, a so-so singer, a great singer.

I could not tell what I was supposed to think about her performance, and I kept wishing that it had been all famous people and then Ricky is someone they pulled out of a bar. We're saying Amethyst Valentino should be Ricky.

Like it shouldn't have Meryl kind of with her existence in this movie makes it not believable and takes you out every time she does anything and especially singing.

I never believed her. It's weird. She's a good singer. Yeah. Ricky and the Flash is a pretty good movie and Meryl is the bad thing about it. Yeah. I think she's not good movie and Meryl is the bad thing about it.

I think she's not particularly good. I think she's the worst thing about it. And Kevin Kline is the best. Kline is pretty great, but Rick Springfield is the best. There's another performance that I think slaps in this movie. I love the Audra McDonald scene though. I think the Audra McDonald moment

with Meryl Streep is really great. Maybe my favorite performance. She is good. And that favorite performance. Audra McDonald. Audra McDonald. She is good. That's true. And that's a great, that's good Diablo Cody. That's true. That's like the Diablo Cody you want.

Yes. I love that. It's very strange to have her not sing. Rick, our problem with Rick. Mamie Gummer's hair, the worst part. Sorry, that's the worst part. Mamie Gummer's hair is the worst part. Mamie Gummer's hair.

The problem with Rick, though, is that I'm sorry. I'm not going to like this. is that I'm sorry. I'm not going to like this. But if you want to give me a grizzled rocker, he cannot have had plastic surgery on his beautiful face.

I'm sorry. Meryl's work is iconic. You can barely tell. It's subtle. Rick's work is Hollywood, baby. When they keep saying we don't have any money and it's like, I know those eyes cost a pretty penny. But here's my take. How many guitars

did you have to sell to get that permanent eyeliner? I think he's supposed to have once been a little more of a somebody. So the Flash, he's on the way down. She never got anywhere.

She's always been right where she is. This band is pretty crazy because you have Bernie Worrell in there. Yeah, you do. You found him at a part of

Funkadelic, sometimes a member of Talking Heads, and Stop Making Sense. You have Jonathan Demme's cousin. What? One of the members of the band is Demme's uncle or cousin. It's really hard to watch this movie and be like, this band is not famous, obviously.

Were they ever famous? Was she famous? No. They weren't famous. They are all session musicians who now, later in life, are like, let's get together and play at a bar every week. But the bar, the environment itself, I believe. I believe that this bar exists where there is this house band. That's all they do.

They have other jobs. There's three people sitting in the front who are like, yeah. I love when they sing Lady Gaga. That's the perfect type of like, like fan service to the bar. It's a drunk place, but not a sloppy place. That's somehow inviting. Like there are all those,

like the right amount of unpopulated. Like there's, you know, not too many folks. Occasionally like a young contingent. Like it's sort of a straight to become a hipster locale than it ever really makes it. I guess it was just more like for this woman

to have like left her family, you know, I, there was just more like for this woman to have like left her family, you know, I, there was a little bit of not as much clarity as to like how that exactly happened and why that happened.

Well, that's the weird, like, she's not vilified enough to just be like a bad person where you're like, I can tell this woman just like was over it, you know?

And this is where I keep on comparing, I'm going to keep comparing this film to Young Adult just because I've watched it so recently. And they feel like two sorts of extremes on her writing style on the opposite ends. But Young Adult maybe over explains some of the incidents.

Like every incident that happened to every character. This is very vague about how bad she was. I mean it's that she wasn't there. They kind of don't really get into whatever it was she did. You want her to be worse. Again, it's hard to write. It's easy to write a deadbeat dad. We'll assume anything about a deadbeat dad.

It's really hard to write a deadbeat mom. But while I want to be like, it's not fair to not trust that she's just bad, like we would just trust a man was bad. Yeah. I do want more from why is she so, like what did she do? Totally. What happened?

The context clues are so odd because it's like they show the album at one point. That's the only album she ever did. It was under a different name. And it's solo and it looks like not the band, not rock. Totally. And it feels like what they're saying is

that was recorded while she was still a mother at home and had the three children. The children were coming to the concerts and then at some point she quote unquote went to LA and she couldn't come back. Right. Right. Right. I do however buy, as much

as I don't buy Rick Springfield's face, I buy his relationship with Meryl. And they have an actual chemistry. They really have real chemistry. And they seem like a sexy couple. There's so much...

In a mundane way. In a two-people way. Not in an ostentatious way. I love Rick Springfield. And so it's almost like I would believe it if you told me she just fell in love with this guy. Yes. More than I would believe that she decided that she

had to keep pursuing music for decades upon decades of presumed failure. You know? Right. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like there... I don't know. It's odd because it's like... The fact that this is now coming at the tail end of like Meryl being a genre, as we're saying, right? Like this run of like a pretty unprecedented run of like a largely dramatic actress.

Who had never been a box office player. In her 60s, suddenly having multiple hundred million dollar grocers where she is like the lead in a totally different genre. It's like she did the comedy version of the Liam Neeson action run. Right. You know? And then this comes at the tail end of that,

but it feels like they're taking a Diablo Cody script, which is in a much sort of quieter key, applying a filmmaker who is a lot more humanistic and behavioral, and putting both of them into the Meryl comedy machine.

Which is too big. Too big. She's too big. She's too big. But also the look of the movie is too big. Cody and Demi is a logical match. Like if you're on TV you're like yeah. And an interesting match.

Right. Of course. He's the right type of her. Like imagine like Melissa Leo. Right. Imagine like. Yeah. Jonathan Demi totally would have been a better Tully.

Totally. Jonathan Demi. That's the correct. Everything but Juno I think would have been a better Tully. Totally. Jonathan Demme, everything but Juno, I think would have been a better. Yeah. You're right, humanistic. But you mentioned something when you were watching this. The lighting in the movie is very.

Oh, thank you. Oh, yeah. Okay. Want to talk about this? The lighting drove me crazy. It's crazy? Yes. Why is he?

Whatever. It is like the how do you know lighting. Oh, yeah. Where like every single shot of the movie is the shiniest thing you've ever seen and is equally bright whether they are indoors, outdoors, daytime or nighttime. It just constantly looks like

fucking Wizards of Waverly Place. So in that way the humanistic thing is kind of lost because you're like what am I watching? Well just to speak on this cinematographer it's Declan Quinn. Who did Rachel getting married? So Tak Fujimoto I think sort of semi-retired. His last Well, just to speak on this cinematographer, it's Declan Quinn. Who did Rachel Getting Married? So, Tak Fujimoto, I think, sort of semi-retired. His last Demi movie, I think, is Mentoring Candidate.

It's such a warm inside movie that is believably inside and stuff. And I felt like I was on a particularly oppressive and extra large soundstage in every scene. Everything in this film is soundstage. I'm like, where am I? He did Rachel Getting Married, which is a great looking movie, but obviously it's like all that handheld. Super grainy home video.

Right. Then he did A Master Builder, which we recently discussed on this podcast and is not a good looking movie. No, no. What If the Sun Came Through a Window seems to be the sort of

lighting concept there. That's his big idea. That's his big fucking idea. Yeah. And this, yeah. You guys have seen Master Builder, right? Everyone's seen The Wall of Sean Master Builder, right? Everyone's seen the Wallace Shawn Master Builder.

What a difference it makes. That thing did Rob Lowe Elephant Netflix movie. Huge. It's part of the Criterion Collection. If you ever wanted to see Wallace Shawn, just yell at everyone from a chair for two hours. Man. I once sat through a Wallace Shawn play monologue, not read by Wallace Shawn. And let me tell you, that was enough Wallace Shawn

that I could ever need for my life. Did they come out dressed as Wallace Shawn speaking like Wallace Shawn? No, but it was about Wallace Shawn in Cuba. He wrote it. It was a full monologue, and it was a wild ride. Wallace Shawn in Cuba.

He's a playwright. Don't forget it. Anyway. I agree with it. This movie is weirdly flat, and I don't know what's up with the photography at all. And it's one of those things where you're like, if you want to make it this sort of like flat and shiny, it's almost a disservice to the movie to hire Demi, who's never going to deliver the broadest version of it.

It's stuck between like two weird poles. Tully, I just want to talk about Tully for a second. Okay. I saw Tully in theaters, and for most of the running time Humblebrag, I saw Tully in theaters. For most of the running time, I was like, is this movie great? And then the ending bummed me out

so much. If we can do Tully spoiler talk for a second. The ending put me in like a puddle. I broke down and destroyed me emotionally. I liked the ending but I hated the discussion around the ending and I think anytime an ending could be

construed as a twist we cannot handle it as a culture and we lose our minds and it ruins the movie. It's revealed that the film has the whole time been part of the unbreakable universe and that you know that is an ending. And he got the ending of It's revealed that the film has the whole time been part of the unbreakable universe. And that, you know. That is an ending.

Fuck, I don't remember. And he got the ending of fucking Split in theaters. No one in my theater didn't know what was meant. There was one person having a stroke and his name was David Sims. I remember when people were like, I hear it has a crazy twist ending the thing I could say to people was it actually has an entirely different type of twist ending than anyone's ever done before it has invented a new type of twist ending and now that it's been done it can never be done again

which is pretty insane he did the one time you can do that and completely blindside people insane, rude but Tully, my thing was I was so on board with the film being so focused into just no one makes a movie about this. Yeah. About just a woman dealing with the day-to-day difficulties and the burnout of being a mother.

Yeah. And having a husband who's not a monster but is distant. a mother and having a husband who's not a monster but is distant. And just the intimacy and the kindness of their relationship, her and Tully, the Mackenzie Davis character, I was like so into how modest and focused and human that movie was that the fact that there was a larger hook to it kind of disappointed me. And I sort of felt like I either wanted to see the movie that is no sort of misdirect from the beginning

here is someone talking to their younger self or the movie that is just they have a nice friendship. You know? And I think it was just that so rarely do we get a film

that is that sort of like I just want to tell a story about two people interacting with each other or about one person struggling with something that when it needed to be something more than that even though I know Like, I just want to tell a story about two people interacting with each other or about one person struggling with something. That when it needed to be something more than that, even though I know thematically the whole movie came out of that idea,

I think she said in interviews that she wrote it based on the idea of what if you could spend time with your younger self, that that then disappointed me. And watching Ricky and the Flash, I was like, I wish this had the specificity that Tully has for so much of its running time where Tully doesn't pump itself full of over dramatics until the last like 20 minutes but you're just so into watching these two people sit in a living room and talk to each other

and like Ricky and the Flash there should be so much of that type of energy here with these people who have such like complicated histories yeah and I think the I know Tully came out

after Ricky but when you when you look at them as sort of like a trio when you look at Juno I mean there's there's a way that you could

sort of shove young adult into this as well but specifically Juno, Tully and Ricky and the Flash the motherhood trilogy they're all movies about motherhood yeah

and you have like Tully like the woman who wants a baby. But young adult could be about not being a mother. Very true. That's what I was going to say. So young adult is about someone who doesn't want to be a mother. And then so it's like in that, adding to that trilogy, you would want something as, I don't know, perceptive and gentle and thoughtful as Tully and especially Juno are. And that's why I think I responded so strongly to the Audra McDonald and Meryl scene

because it's like this is sort of the movie that I want from specifically Diablo Cody. You mean you more want the let's lay it out on the fucking table. This examination between this dynamic and Diablo Cody has been quite good and has made a career out of like putting these perspectives on screen

in a way that like other people either don't want to or can't and then Ricky and the Flash is just sort of this lost potential

Ricky should not be likable also like Ricky Meryl is inherently likable I think here and Ricky should be more terrible the scene where Ricky's like

my name is Ricky Randazzo and to the security guard, great scene in terms of making her be fucking annoying. More of that. Like, she just should have been more annoying. Yeah. You know, and bad. Which she's certainly capable of doing.

Right, she's a good actress. Right. It's like she's too much in her sort of movie star zone. And that, to me me is the problem. I mean, they couldn't even figure out a haircut that like took her out of. I was fascinated by her half braid, half down. Because it was like the way to make her look slightly alt but not have to cut her hair or do anything drastic. Make her unrecognizable.

The moment they took those braids out and she just looked like Meryl Streep, I was like, now I get the braids. Right. Because this completely takes me out of this. Yeah. And I think that, I don't know, the posters for it are particularly interesting. Get ready for Ricky? Get ready for Ricky. Oh, my God.

Oh, look at her. Like, she's fun. Look at this cookie mom came back. But that's not, that's also not the movie at all. No. No. And I think you pinpoint something, Bobby, which is like Diablo Cody's real strength is

finding a very specific human dynamic that has never been dramatized before. She is really good at finding, like especially modern dynamics where it's like, what is the conversation between a deadbeat mother and the stepmother who stepped up? Okay, but, all right.

And I'm borrowing this from, first I want to point out that it's absolutely insane she didn't get a Golden Globe nomination. That is how crazy this movie, how fully this movie was, like, rejected. The most slam dunky. She did for Flo Foss Jen, right? And she got an Oscar nomination. Flo Foss Jen, she gets the Oscar

nomination. August Osage County, she literally. This is a musical and a comedy, she didn't get a Golden Globe nomination. It's true, she sang sang Beaten out in this category by I want to make sure I'm having This is 15?

Yeah 15 Beaten out by So there are three nominations where you're like Sure Tip of the hat Amy Schumer and Trainwreck Obviously big movie

Tip of the hat Melissa McCarthy and Spy Tip of the hat Great movie Great performance Jennifer Lawrence in Joy Oh my god I'm sorry Which I still haven't seen Tip of the hat. Great movie. Great performance. And the winner, Jennifer Lawrence in Joy. Oh my God. Oh my God.

Which I still haven't seen. Let me laugh a little bit. I'm just thinking about how funny Joy is. Joy is the worst fucking movie. I've still never seen it. Oh my God. I'd watch Ricky every day of my life until I die if I did not have to see Joy. To avoid the same fate with Joy.

Joy is bananas. But can you give me the other two nominees in this category? Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for the Films of 2015. You're asking me to name the other two? Yeah. Well, that would be Helena York and Drew Tarver, of course. All right. So the other two.

Okay, let me guess. Actually, the other two. 2015. I love the other two. Good show. Good show. Bobby's never watched it. I never watched it. Never watched it? I know. You'd love it. 2015. I love the other two. Good show. Bobby's never watched it. I never watched it.

Never watched it? I know. You'd love it. I keep trying. Yeah, maybe. Okay. It's fine. I'd love a lot of things. You'd love a lot of things.

Your reaction to that is wild. The other two for 2015. Yes. Were they more awards-y plays or box office plays? Love when you play this game. No. Neither? I'm just going to give them to you.

Okay, fine. Never mind. Lily Tomlin in Grandma. Grandma? Which is not a bad movie. And it's a pretty good performance. But insane. Maggie Smith in The Lady in the Van.

Oh, which doesn't exist and never came out. Meryl couldn't beat either of them out? Yeah, that's pretty nuts. That's a bad movie. I have seen Lady in the Van. Right, but it just shows how, like, mismarketed this movie was. When it was finished, everyone watching it was like,

what is that? Like, it's not big, it's not small, it's not anything. Also, I think, and not that I'm, you know, a marketing wizard, but I feel like this is a type of movie that I remember fully when this trailer came out, you know, a marketing wizard, but I feel like this is a type of movie that I remember fully when this trailer came out,

you know, however, six months before the movie, and it was like, this looks nutty, I can't wait for it. And by the time it came out, I had forgotten about it, and I was like,

oh, right, I have to see Ricky. This is the sort of like, it could benefit from the, whatever, the Jordan Peele thing where he releases the trailers for the movies,

you know, two months before they come out. Like, let's not try to, this is a ridiculous, not great movie. So let's not even try to hype it up. They gave up. And I know that that's impossible with most studio movies. But, like, it would have benefited from a sort of surprise release.

People would have seen it, I think, in higher numbers. I mean, it was this weird, like – I feel like the movie got announced, like, one fell swoop. They were like, there's a hot Diablo Cody spec script that Meryl Streep is attached to they were in talks with Jonathan Demme and then TriStar acquired it and Jonathan Rothman Tom Rothman sorry had just left Fox

and got like swayed over to Sony and they were like we're putting you in charge of TriStar we're restarting TriStar and TriStar is now like director driven and so he makes the big bid for this and he's like, this is the type of movie we're going to be making. It's a $30 million Jonathan Demme

Diablo Cody Meryl Streep comedy. I was like, oh, interesting. Do you want to know the other three films that TriStar made before Amy Pascal got fired? Go ahead. And Tom Rothman took over all of Sony. Love you, Amy.

His three other films at TriStar were The Walk, The Lady in the Van, and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. Two walks. Yeah.

The Lady in the Van. But he picked like three best director winners. Right, right. And got the worst work out of them. Of their careers. The Walk is crazy.

The Walk is insane. The Walk is crazy. I saw's insane. The walk is crazy. Yeah, but he- I saw that in 3D. That's bad taste right there. He arguably made the three worst films in each of those filmmakers' careers. No, totally. Arguably, arguably.

I'm not sure- He's made a lot of stings. I'm not sure I would rank all of them at the bottom, but there are arguments that all three- Just like unseeables. Yes, unquestionable. Just things that people didn't see though. Yes. More so not even didn't see though. Yes. More so not even like a big just stinker.

Just movies that got lost in the confusion of their release and having nothing to sell in them. Lost a ton of money. And you're like, Ricky and the Flash only cost 30 and still was unsuccessful. I think made 20. But to compare it to The Walk, not that this woman even exists, but it's like the whole time I was watching The Walk, I was like, why am I not just watching Man on Wire again?

The whole time I was watching Making the Flash, I was like, I would love a documentary about this woman. Like, not that she exists, but you know what I mean. But in the year 2019, we had a film released in the United States of America called Wild Rose. I said that to Bobby yesterday. That is so fucking good.

And it's not the exact same movie, but it's exploring a lot of the same ideas. And it's maybe the only other movie I've ever seen that is about like a woman abandoning her family in pursuit of a career. Exactly. Trying to find that balance.

It's exactly correct. And the Jessie Buckley character, both as it's written and as it's performed, is a really good balance between something about her being very charismatic, where you're kind of rooting for her, and also something about her being very unlikable and annoying.

Yes. Where you're like, get out of your own fucking way. Stop ruining this for yourself. But you're also like, is she unlikable? Because I, as a viewer, am biased against the idea

of a mother leaving their child to- Totally. A society fully is, of course. Yes, yes. And that's why I think it's okay that she's not a piece of shit. Totally. Because it's like,

the very act of a woman leaving her kids, we're just gonna be more judgmental. But also, she's not a piece of shit. Totally. Because it's like the very act of a woman leaving her kids, we're just going to be more judgmental. But also she's talented. So the viewer is like, oh, this is talent and everyone's responding to it as talent. Ricky, you know, it's Meryl Streep singing. Is Meryl Streep a good singer? Yes. And I love hearing

Meryl Streep sing, but is this good? I guess it's okay. They're all kind of like playing less good than maybe they could on purpose. And the cover band stuff is also... Just the fact that it's a cover band makes me feel like it's less interesting than had it all been original music. You know, where it's like, I don't really

understand your passion if it's just doing Lady Gaga. What about one for the first one? It's very weird. What about the song Cold One? I kind of like a cold one. You love a cold one! I kind of like a cold one. A cold one's fine. Written by Jenny Lewis and her ex-boyfriend. Didn't even get a Golden Globe nomination. I mean, this movie should have had two slammed Oscars.

I wonder if it made the long list. I'm pissed Jenny Lewis didn't release her version of a cold one. I know, you only get the Meryl version. I want to go back to what we were talking about with Audra McDonald. Uh-huh. And I'm lifting this from Cam Collins, so credit to Cam Collins, who talked about it in something he wrote about this movie years ago.

There's this dynamic in this movie, and I cannot tell if it's something that Diablo Cody wrote into the script, or it's more Demi's casting of, he likes to cast actors from, more of a colorblind caster than some, right? So you've got Audra McDonald. You have a couple other,

this whole sort of bubbling thing that Ricky is like very conservative. She has that 80s. Which is, we're going to bring that up. Kind of the most interesting thing about them. That's what I'm saying. It is interesting. This is pre-Trump, so it's George Bush conservatism. Right, exactly.

But it's that sort of culture war type. But also, it's not out of line for, you know, those 80s rockers had that streak. Like, that was very much the sort of, I don't know, name, you know, fucking Ted Nugent. But like, you know, those types, right? Sure. And so it makes sense that she has that sort of dumbass kind of like, well, I support our troops, you know. But it's only peppered in occasionally. And every time you're sort of like, oh.

Yes. Like, interesting. The reveal of Ricky's back tattoo. With Audra McDonald. In the most important scene of the film. We're all agreeing that this scene is the most impactful. Ricky's back tattoo is revealed halfway in. Right.

She turns around. And you can't stop thinking. It kind of ruins it. You can't stop thinking about it. You're like, what is that? Every time something like that happens, it sort of just throws you off for a second where you're like, how am I supposed to feel about this character? Right. Does, you know, is there an internal logic to how she's being written versus how she's being played?

But that scene also has, you know, Audra McDonald says like. The casting of Audra McDonald is so pointed, but I can't figure out if it's pointed. I can't either. And neither could Cam, which is what he was writing about. And neither could Cam, which is what he was writing about. He was like, I don't know if this is just Demi casting a great actress and not giving a shit about the fact that she's black. Or Diablo Cody being like, specifically, this is supposed to be a black person. Because Ricky never says, like, fuck Obama. No.

But the one time Audra McDonald's blackness is referenced is in that monologue where she's like, I had to drive Mamie Gummer to school. And I took her to her white sorority. where she's like, I had to drive Mamie Gummer to school and I took her to her white sorority. And so the moment she said that,

I was like, was this written for a black woman or was this added after they cast her? Right, exactly. That's the line

where I'm like, I can't tell. Also, her conservatism could have been what pulled her from the family or something.

So why, her brother died in a war, that was a huge deal for her. You see her lighting the candle, blah, blah, blah. Why not actually connect the lines for us in a war. That was a huge deal for her. Like you see her lighting the candle. Blah, blah, blah. Like why not like actually connect the lines for us in a more clear way to.

It's just one of those movies where it's like I care about everything but what the movie cares about. And what the movie cares about is Mamie Gummer getting better. And it's like I care about. And her hair. She's getting a hair makeover. The movie cares about that for 40 minutes. Yeah, and then it's resolved.

The first half is just about that. And it's mostly resolved by them getting a pedicure. Mamrie Gummer's hair being the exact same shit for half of the movie is so frustrating. It is so meticulously... I would love to see the wig

that they crafted. It's such a comic choice. It's like using those, like using like chopsticks or those teeny tiny tongs when you're cooking like to just like separate and combine individual hairs to make it look as disgusting as possible.

She looks like the Cynthia doll from Rugrats. Like it is so comically like the shape of it. It has such a specific silhouette. And from shot to shot, scene to scene, it never varies even after she slept on it. They fix her hair and they give her nails that are jokey. So it's like, okay, so you've taken away this hair. Thank you so much. I can now focus again.

And you've given her bad nails. I can't stop looking at the nails. I can't stop looking at the nails. So there's always this visual gag that does not work for this poor woman who's already not so good. We need to, as we're talking about the hair, we need to talk about Mamie Gummer. Yeah, we do. I have two questions. One, is she a who?

Is she a who? Big who. Even Lindsay was like, is that Mamie or Grace? I have two questions one is she a who does she is she who yeah she's a who right even Lindsay was like is that Mamie or Grace well that's that is the key reason she will always be a who

you're never sure right I was very confident like it's Mamie and then in the back of my head it's Grace I think it might be Grace I mean they look

exactly alike it's they do look very similar which they're actually both really beautiful yes and there's a third one Carol and Don's children of course they're beautiful exactly right and there's a third one They're exactly alike. They do look very similar. They're actually both really beautiful. Yes. And there's a third one. Carol and Don's children, of course, are beautiful.

Exactly. Right. And there's a third one who I'm less aware of. Who doesn't act, but is a model, but is maybe starting to act, I think. Louisa. Louisa. She's a model. Isn't there a boy who's in a band, too?

Henry. Henry Gunther. I remember when she was going to his band shows in New York. She was always in Brooklyn. She was always showing up. Getting ready for her acting. I think that she can going to his band shows in New York. She was always at Brooklyn. She was always showing up, getting ready for her acting. I think that she can be a good actress. I really enjoy her in things like The Good Wife,

where she's playing the sort of bitch on wheels type. That's more... Is she terrible at playing a train wreck? Because I've seen her do it a few times, and I don't ever love it. She's not good in this. I don't think she's great in this. She's not terrible, but...

I think she's bad at playing a train wreck. Also, I think she's bad at being in a movie with her mom in this. I don't think she's great in this. She's not terrible, but I think she's bad at playing a train wreck. Also, I think she's bad at being in a movie with her mom. Yeah, I don't know. Which is a weird dynamic. It must really mess with you. Especially when your mom's Meryl Streep. It will not do you any favors, as I think. I feel like they thought they were getting something special with having them be mother and daughter in this movie, and they got

the opposite, which was me being distracted. And the most special part is, I mean, I did. It wasn't good. The final bit, which is so unearned and so lazy when she's like, don't keep going, girl. Like, that's like, it was such a dumb line, but also that it sort of works.

I like that moment. That moment is fine. And it's like, I kind of wish there were more of this instead of her being like, oh, I feel like I'm back in the 80s, mom. That's the thing about this movie. There's like three to four sort of elements where you're like, maybe we should lose one and emphasize the others, right? You know, it's like maybe a little just

the balance is off. I just wanted to bring this up because I assume none of you watched True Detective Season 3. I love True Detective Season 3. Wasn't it good? So good. It was amazing. Except for Mamie Gummer. My favorite season of the whole show. I liked it more than one. Wow. Wow. I loved it. It was very, I actually agree with you. Hit the nail on the head over here. But Mamie Gummer. My favorite season of the whole show. I liked it more than one. Wow. Wow. I loved it. It was very, I actually agree with you.

Hit the nail on the head over here. But Mamie Gummer playing this sort of strung out, you know, sort of trailer part fuck up. I didn't like her. She's better than that. I was like, I'm feeling near this is fake. She's not. She's better than that. Which Gummer's in the newsroom?

That's great. Love her. She's better in True Detective than she is in this, I would say. She annoyed me less. Two thumbs up. I had more to do. Scoot, you know, Scoot, you just roll that guy in some twigs

and I'm like, oh my God, who is this disaster of a person? You know, he's the best. And Mamie, I felt a little more like, oh, you're trying, this is like a fun role for you to sink your teeth into. Do you think she needs to be high status? Yes, I'm saying she's much better

at the sort of like good wife type, you know. I was just thinking. Emily Owens, MD, of course. R.A.P. We all. Oh, my God. Emily Owens, MD. But like, look, Grace and Mamie have made good careers for themselves.

They've done a lot of work that is well respected, well regarded. I actually like Grace, too. Grace is good. I have no problem with either Gummer. Considering their situation, they've done well. I was going to say. Oh, my God. It is so extreme because they're obviously like big second, third

generation movie stars, but it's so different when it's Meryl Streep and she's used as shorthand for acting. Yes, she's the best actor. Right, it's the Meryl Streep of blanks. She's the person who has broken all the records. Right, there's the funny, the onion you know, Meryl Streep, there

is no, they can't find a jury of peers because she has no peers. It's crazy that they're acting. If your mom were Meryl Streep and you say, I'm going to do that too, you must be out of your mind. I feel like I'm going to be an investment banker. I'll be anything but acting.

I feel like both of them have said that in interviews. I thought it was the last thing I'd ever want to do. I had no interest and I was very surprised when I fell into it in college. Right. That they tried to avoid it for as long as they could for that reason. And so you're like there's something kind of compelling even though I don't believe this film reflects their actual dynamic in any way. By all accounts, she was a hands-on mother and did not vote for Bush two times.

Right. Sure. and did not vote for Bush two times. Right, sure. There is something compelling where you're like, oh, it's like a film about a mother who like prioritizes her career over her children starring her real life daughter and it's the most famous woman in her field. Like the peak of her artistic field. It seems like there's something there,

especially because Mamie is like a real actor in her own right. It's not like they're just casting her non-professional daughter to play their relationship. But something about it is off. And Mamie's being handed this, again, in the universe where this is an Oscar film,

which it turned out not to be, big meaty role, she's all fucked up, she yells, her hair is weird, I don't know if you heard about it. So it could be an Oscar play. meaty role. She's all fucked up. She yells. Her hair is weird. I don't know if you heard about it. Yeah, so like, you know, could be an Oscar play. But I think it's weird. A weird thing about that role, though, is that she doesn't even get the confrontation scene. No. Like,

the big sort of conclusion to her story. Which I kind of like that she weirdly doesn't get that fulfillment. What a weird scene. It's a very strange scene. Bad scene. When she does like the, she's like, yeah, fist bumping. But it's like, you didn't hear any of that. Walking through the window, like. I know, but I like that Ricky's, it doesn't do a very good job at that.

Because it's like, what's she going to do, a good job being like, and you know, another thing, you know, you're a real piece of shit. And he's like, all right, go away. But that also happens like end of act one, right? Yeah. And so act one is she's summoned home. Her daughter is in a, a you know suicidal tailspin because her husband left her

and Kevin Kline who's this buttoned up you know businessman in a nice house with a bath which I'll take as much as you have

of course put that on a roll I'll eat every day give me all of it you got it that house is perfect it's a perfect house

it's supposed to be in Indianapolis or whatever and they're in like a gated housing community where they supposed to be in Indianapolis or whatever and they're in a gated housing community where they have to check on the security

and he's just like well I just don't know what to do and Ricky's like I'll just fucking take her for a pedicure and yell at her ex-husband

and convince her to skip therapy and by the end of it she's like maybe gonna start to be alright and Audra McDonald's

like can you get the fuck out of here and she's like man can you get the fuck out of here? Yeah. And she's like, all right. She's like, okay. And this movie's 100 minutes long,

but if you took out the music scenes, it's like 75 minutes long. There's a lot of songs. There's a lot of songs. Audra McDonald says, go home, and then she's just home for 25 minutes. Right.

Singing her songs. I don't really like the first 40 minutes that much. I kind of like it once she goes home. I love when she's home. And it becomes just her being like, you know what, Rick Springfield's alright.

Yeah. My life's okay. I know I'm not whatever I dreamed of. We did not need a full song in the second act. I mean, give it to me.

I can't remember. You're right. There's a full song. The song about rock and roll. We didn't need that song. And that's when she does her, like, she starts to overshare

in the intro to the song. We don't need that song. Rick's like when she does her, like, she starts to overshare in the intro to the song. We don't need that song. It's like they haven't done a full song and then they finally do this full song and it's just like, we don't need the full song right now. But it is that weird thing where like, act one is like Operation Mamie Gummer, right? Act two is back at the... And also there's one scene

each with Sebastian Stan. Yeah. And the other actor is called Nick Westrate. Oh yeah. As her gay son. And so like with Sebastian Stan, the other actor is called Nick Westrait as her gay son. And so with Sebastian Stan, it's like he's getting married and she doesn't know and so she's bummed about that.

And the gay son is like, and you don't like that I'm gay. And she's like, I don't mind. I just says two homophobic things. And you're like, what the fuck is this dynamic? And the movie's like,

moving on. And the gay son introduces his new boyfriend and the boyfriend is like, I love your movie's like moving on. And the gay son introduces his new boyfriend and the boyfriend is like I love your mother. She's a firecracker. I stan Ricky. And the other great part

is the boyfriend's like her number one fan. Which like I get it but also it does it also I'm like can we have ten more minutes or none of this? Like I'm not sure.

Especially then because act three is just about Sebastian Stan's wedding. Like the thing that's kind of striking when the movie is set up on like a suicide attempt by her daughter calls a woman back home to the children she abandoned. Act one is all about her relationship with that child. And Sebastian Stan and the other son are just kind of like only there for the dinner scene and they don't even want to engage with her.

Then act two is her back home. She does not speak to Grace Gummer between, fuck, I did it again. She does not speak to Mamie Gummer. Mamie Gummer, God. At all. I didn't even notice. Yeah, me neither. At all between when they hug.

Until walk on, yeah. And she gets in the cab and walk on, at which point like 45 minutes have elapsed. Well, we've also, her character gets dropped, but then when she's gonna walk down the aisle, she has the panic attack. And that's supposed to happen with Mamie. I mean, I wish,

they maybe could have ended with a fight between her and Mamie to show that tension. And then she doesn't talk to her because of that tension. But it ends with Mamie sort of forgiving her. Mamie was like kind of okay with her by the end of that first act.

It feels like she's sort of like solved herself, hugs her, is like, thank you for coming. I really appreciate it. So why would you just go home without any type of fight? Yeah. Weird. I mean, you just go home without any type of fight? Yeah. Weird. The,

I mean, you said, is this movie edited weird? Like, what's the deal with this movie? Yeah. And it makes me think like, I think I dropped.

Not to, I mean, not to give, I mean, to give Diablo Cody credit. We'd love to hear an interview with Diablo Cody about this movie. She has, she has this,

you know, this catalog of movies that, if not explore depression and mental illness pretty in depth like let's say Tully again but like

it stands to reason that this movie was more about Mamie being suicidal and the effects of like depression on this family and like

her specifically coming like and the conversation between Audra McDonald has this very knowing assessment of how treatment for depression works. And it wants to get that across. It's clearly trying to make a statement and let its audience – like let them know that it understands mental illness.

And yet it kind of just stops being about that. It's lacking in specificity. I think that if something was cut out or things were changed, like I would like to see what this movie originally was because I have a feeling it was something else. Or at the very least just like sand it off too much, you know?

Like the whole thing feels just a little too smooth and too shiny. She has said that she based it on her mother-in-law. Like Rick Springfield. Is this the sort of thing that like, she never had, in her wildest dreams, Meryl Streep wasn't

in this movie. And the moment Meryl got attached, things had to change. So it's like, she had to be grateful. Because she has not been writing, sorry,

I'm fucking up my microphone. There we go. I mean, you're really freestyling it over there. I'm freestyling it. I have my microphone on my left. I see. It is that better? You're really freestyling it over there. I'm freestyling it. I have my microphone on my left.

I see. It is a movie where, Devil Could Have You Said, as you said, David, that it is based on her mother-in-law, that her mother-in-law is part of a bar band, that she would watch her play and go like, I've never seen a movie about this person.

This person deserves to be a movie. But it stands to reason that her mother-in-law did not abandon her child because her husband has a good relationship with her. The other thing she said is, and as we sort of already talked about, is that she was inspired by that as she's a mother herself and she works in the movie industry

and the double standards she perceived of men with kids in the movie industry are, you know, they just jet off to wherever they're making their movie and they don't. How many movies are made about a man trying to decide between his love of his work and his love of his family? And like, you know, and of course, if Diablo goes off to make a movie

and she can't see her kids as much, like everyone would be like, geez, I mean, you have a kid at home. Like, you know, whatever. Like she was, she wanted to write about that. But to your point, point Lindsay like in Wild Rose you know this woman's got the goods

when she comes on stage it is so clear to you she has the talent well that's the thing with Wild Rose you're like holy shit she is pure talent you're like this woman

just needs to get in front of the right person she doesn't start singing until like 25 minutes into that movie and we've seen that she's in jail so we get like

she is a genuinely huge fuck up who you know, blew it. You watch the first 20 minutes of the movie and you're like, this seems like the behavior

of a delusional person that's never gonna make it. Like, they're not that good. We don't know. We don't know. Yeah. The reveal of being really good works so well in that movie.

And there's something I like conceptually to the idea of she's leading a bar band that mostly does cover. She's not even a songwriter. But you get the sense of what it gives her. Like how much she loves doing it. Where it's so clear that she cannot avoid this.

Is my microphone being adjusted again? Put your damn microphone on the table. It is one of those, like, I fully believe the character. Oh, God. You're fully not knowing how to use the microphone. How many episodes? I believe the character. I don't believe her.

I usually use the arms. You're so much louder. It's crazy. Wow. Has the last 45 minutes of this episode been? No, but like 10. Okay. Bobby, go.

What was I saying? Oh, no, but I believe that that woman exists. I don't believe Meryl should be playing her. Totally. And I feel like we've all seen people like that. Like people where you're like, wow, you seem to be so happy just playing in this club for five people. In the back of this bar, you just get so much joy. It's just like a grittiness.

It's just a grittiness that Meryl does not have. Which is a perfect subject for Diablo Cody to write about. Like someone who is not, doesn't have like wild aspirations, who is happy being like happy, happy being content with what they like. Their little quiet little joys. Who actually just likes doing the work and has no sort of delusions about fame or success. And understands the dignity in that. Totally. But this movie isn't about that.

It's also weird to make a movie about a creative person who is also conservative. You so rarely come across people like that. It's also weird to make a movie about a creative person who is also conservative. You so rarely come across people like that. When you do, it's always kind of striking and you want to ask them a thousand questions. Right. And like the fact that in that Audra McDonald scene where the movie sort of like starts to like get this real sort of jagged energy, you reveal the back tattoo. Audra McDonald makes the joke about like, I grew up with seven sisters, so it's nothing I haven't seen before. And that's when she said I just had one brother and he died in Nam

yes and you're like what and it's a throwaway but it's kind of like oh that's starting to unlock this character like that's starting to pull and that's why a creative person could be conservative totally because their family died in service right and you're like that was just such a formative thing for her that she has like forever

stuck in Amber. She's support our trope. You know, she's got that. Everything's reverse engineered. But why is there no, aside from the, I guess the homophobic comments to the son, there's no other runoff of her bad politics with the family. Does Kevin Kline agree with her? Did he once and now doesn't because they have a gay son?

And then he kind of changed his mind. He kind of seems like a guy whose vibe is like, well, I don't know. That's fine. Right. Their scene in the kitchen. Like a dull horn's fine. Right. Their scene in the kitchen. Like a dull horniness. Is nice. Their scene in the kitchen is terrific.

I thought that was nice. That was sweet. Yes. And weird. And the checking, the testing her on the serial numbers. Yeah. That's very. Is like lovely.

But then like, then that she tries to throw it at Audra with like, you know, he's still in love with me. And she's just like, oh, I love that, I'm just going to let you have that. Love that. Love that. Pretty great. It's devastating. Yeah.

That's like peak Diablo. It's great. When the grandma says, oh yeah, I don't like her. Charlotte Rae. They've been together for however much and she's like,

they've been together for so many years and she's like, oh no. So getting to the wedding. So, you know, you have this inter,

you know, intermission kind of thing where it's more just her and Rick Springfield and they kind of like, she. So, you know, you have this inter, you know, intermission kind of thing where it's more just her and Rick Springfield. And they kind of like she's like embraces this guy in this life. She has a weirdly bad Ben Platt scene. Oh, there's no point for him to be there. What's going on with him in this movie?

What's going on? Why was he there? Why is he there? There's no reason for him to be there. What's this character? Because the movie is produced by Mark Platt. Oh, shit. Oh, thank you. Because the whole time produced by Mark Platt. Oh, shit. Thank you.

Because the whole time I'm like, what is this? I mean, I understand that Ben Platt's probably like, sure, I'll act opposite Meryl Streep and just tell her how much I love her. Like, which is all he does. And it's not like he is not an actor who has proven himself in other places. Did he win, was this like the year of Dear Evan Hansen or the year before or after? I think it's the year before. No, it's way before. It's the year before.

It's not his fault. It's just like the role is. Just to clarify, it's the year of Dear Evan Hansen off Broadway. Right. It will eventually make it. He wins a Tony in 16 or 17. I think he won the Tony in 17, you know, but for this prior season. I saw it off Broadway.

Is that supposed to be like he is like the stand, like she does have relationships with young people that could, that are the age of her kids and like he's obviously gay and she has a gay son

and while she's like kind of homophobic or she still has like, But she's not like virulently homophobic. No. She's just like, if you,

you know, if you dig a little deep with her, you realize like, oh, she's pretty old. But that's supposed to make her likable. It's supposed to make her likable or something in a way that if you didn't like her, you'd be like, well, she's a real community in this bar and everyone loves her.

And I think she's less like openly homophobic than like openly conservative, which is the vibe I got from the son where it's like the son never felt comfortable coming out to her. Right. Because just he assumed she wouldn't based on the back tattoo, based on like her relationship with the brother. So it's like, yeah, it's. My least favorite scene in the entire movie is when she meets her son's boyfriend. Oh, yeah. And she makes the Bruce Lee joke.

Oh, God. She tries to be supportive and makes a couple weirdly kind of like uncomfortable comments about his sexuality. And all of them are treated with the boyfriend laughing and being like, oh, come on. She's trying. Oh, she's cute. I love Ricky. That's right. And you're right.

It should not be. Just as the bride who doesn't like her throughout the dinner scene. Yeah. Because she's been told. Comes around at the end. Who is barely an actress. she's mostly a model, but has the greatest face of just this day. And she's hilarious

in Uncut Gems. It looks like Vinegar is being helped. She's so good in Uncut Gems. She's a really good actress. She is. She doesn't do enough. I mean, she looks good. That scene in Uncut Gems is phenomenal. On the phone. Oh my god. But this, she is so like one-dimensional. It's comical. It's offensive. She's fucking Dennis dimensional it's comical it's offensive she's fucking

Dennis Quaid's fiance it's not calibrated it's off I wanted her to just she shouldn't have never come around to her

or she should be put off by her but not in this comical like ooh P.U. kind of way and the way the movie

sort of like at the end goes like oh all her naivete is cute look at her making this like he looks like Bruce Lee to a Chinese guy who she's just met. Diablo Cody is usually good at doing a scene like that where there were four or five contradictory feelings at once. And you can go like what's sweet about this scene is that she's trying really hard. But also no one changes overnight.

So all the things she's doing to try to connect to her son are still kind of cringey. Falling flat, yeah. Right, that's sweet. In the same way that Jennifer Garner's character in Juno is so incredibly good at being like, this is an innately unlikable person who we always demonize in movies like this, and I'm trying to show that she's just actually

pathologically uncool. That she does not know how to connect to other people. I mean, that is incredible. An incredible performance. Her and Bateman are both so good. Bateman just understands what- Which is the reason Juno works. And like when people shit on Juno,

they shit on Honest to Blog and all the shit that's obvious. And like the first five minutes of Juno obviously suck. The Rainn Wilson scene sucks. But the thing that everyone loses sight of is like, only the kids talk like that and all the adults in the movie are like real human beings. There's like,

like, name a, name a more beautiful moment than Jennifer Garner saying, I have a son. I mean, like, come on.

When she speaks to the belly? Yes, that scene is incredible. And the Bateman, like all the Bateman scenes are so good. The end is incredible. I mean,

that's a great movie. It's also just kind of a magic movie, though. She can do that, is what you're saying. It made Ellen Page's entire career. She's really good. It's amazing. Totally. She should have won the Oscar.

But those two characters are like, Jason Bateman is a guy who's really charming, but kind of innately creepy. And an asshole. And we, the audience, clock it a little faster than Juno can, which is appropriate. Like, you know, because he's the guy where I'm like, he's like, a 17-year-old is still going to think I'm cool. Totally. And Jennifer Garner's the exact inverse of that, where she is like on a surface level really unappealing. And if you dig down, you're like, this is actually a really respectable human being. And you're right.

She's the character that movies have taught us to make fun of. She's a one-dimensional pain. And all the scenes where they deepen that character, that film is smart enough to characterize her as still being embarrassing. Like, even when she is showing her true colors and making herself vulnerable, there is something innately embarrassing

about that character. In the same way that even when Jason Bateman is creepy, there's still something charming about him. Right. Because that movie is interested in the gray area of those characters. And I think every other Diablo Cody movie,

for better or worse, in terms of the film at large, gets that kind of balance. And the fact that Ricky is so just like Meryl having a fun time. Like, it feels like one of those performances

where all you're supposed to be thinking the whole time is, wow, I've never seen Meryl like this before. She's cutting loose. She's joking about pukes. She's wearing leggings. Her boots are so high.

Like, rock and roll Meryl. What was the scene where she has the boots on the whole movie? In the kitchen. She has these boots on in the kitchen.

She's sitting on the kitchen aisle and her boots are on. I'm like, so rude. She's like, she needs them to be in character. She needs the boots because you'll forget

it's, you know, Ricky. Because there's nothing else there. If the script completely unchanged, if that scene would have played not better, but at least maybe better, but differently had it just

been this no-name woman. Meryl is so distracting on every level in this movie. You can't get over it. You want to know what was Ricky like? What was Linda like? There's no ever comparison between are there photos of two types Linda what about her old clothes are they in the house somewhere like what's that Tupperware like get more into that like there's no actual like before and after of her that maybe could be compelling like was she always like this because or was he more of a rocker when they met? Like, was he cool and alternative? Yeah. Like, there's just there's like no it's not realistic to to have this.

Especially when that's like one of her big subjects. Diablo Cody is the like hip people becoming old and late. Yeah. You know, and who tries to fight it and who gives into it and who still wants to pretend that they are. Right. You know, and who's still longing for it and who's moved on. Right. But here's the thing I want to say about the wedding scene that I do like. who still wants to pretend that they are. Right. You know, and who's still longing for it and who's moved on. Right.

But here's the thing I want to say about the wedding scene that I do like. The final act of the film, whatever. Them going to the wedding. I like that despite the scenes we've talked about, they show up at the wedding. They're not part of the wedding. They sit in chairs. Yeah.

Everyone says hi to them or whatever, but that's it. That like she has not, there's not some thing where it's like, you know what, Ricky? You're as important to this family as everyone else. You should be up here with us. Exactly. She gets to go as a guest.

She gets to be a guest. She gets to have a conversation, one conversation with her kids each. They tell her because she RSVP'd so late she has to sit at the table with the members of the band. Exactly. And then she does the only fucking thing she's remotely good at, apart from naming serial numbers for fruit,

which is she does some pretty decent covers for them and everyone dances. Her Bruce is good. Her Bruce is good. I'm a huge fan of that song, which is an underrated Springsteen song, like not a top tier, like everyone knows it. But it also makes you think that maybe Meryl

needed to make a stronger vocal choice with the singing where you're like, she's never going to be the best singer, but maybe if she had that distinctive of a style. Yeah. Not that she was imitating Bruce every time, but that she had like a specific kind of growl. But it's still unclear whether she's good.

She's all right. It's like you want there to be a stronger reaction. Yeah. It's very mixed and it's hard to know whether what she's doing is inappropriate because it is.

But then also you're like clearly Audra McDonald's in on this because if she wasn't she'd be like oh okay. Get off the stage. And also someone

flew out the entire band. Yes. And Ben Platt. Who is in the front row. So the appearance of Ben Platt is absolutely

the worst thing about it. It's science fiction. That's when the movie goes to Guantanamo Bay. I can handle. Okay, so here's the thing. We were like, how much does it cost to fly from Indiana to... Now I have to read to you from the trivia page for Ricky and the Flash. Please do. Because it's a somewhat annoying

one of those IMDb trivia entries where you're like... But you do have it bookmarked. It's in your tabs. Exactly. So he's got that Gibson, that very nice guitar. The guitar he wrote. The guitar he wrote Jesse's girl out of. The real one. Sick.

It's a 1959... Oh, no, sorry. The yellow guitar is the 1959. The banana. The 68 Gibson SG. This thing is like that would cost $5,000 to $10,000 if you sold it. Sure. Now, I believe he pawned it. Yeah.

So he's getting like 10%. Right. So that's enough for tickets from like LA to Indianapolis. Sure. Sure. Whatever. This is like, with the lowest guitar price in current playing fairs, all five band members could have flown first class 10 times.

I'm like, all right. All right, IMDb trivia. You know, I'm going to say that I didn't find this interesting. But, pawning the guitar, sure, he can afford playing seconds. I don't even think that they needed that. And I just think that that's the kind of details where they gave time to this thing where he ponds the guitar. I like that he never says it, though. You know, where she's like, where's the guitar?

And he's like, don't worry about it. Even again, even though I had seen this movie before, I was. I think they've driven. I just don't get this like. It's a long drive, Lindsay. Come on. I just drive all over this country. They drive all the time.

Or have them be from, have her be, have the locations be closer. She didn't have to be so far. I just think that these like, that little bit is not worth like making them be geographically closer. And there was no like, the guitar being sold didn't make the relationship between Ricky and Rick Springfield. Ricky and Rick. Rick and Rick. Be any more cohesive.

It's a 30-hour drive. Look at that. Come on. People do that all the time. Two hotels is cheaper than, you know, two round-trip planes. I think you can fly L.A. to Indianapolis for, like, $100. Right. So that part just didn't ring.

It didn't matter to me. It also feels like you'd maybe rather that Audra McDonald bought them hundred bucks. Right. So that part just didn't ring. It didn't matter to me. It also feels like you'd maybe rather that Audra McDonald bought them the tickets. Yeah. And almost you. Yeah, but she would never

do that. She wouldn't do it. I would not ever buy that Ricky would do that. No matter how improved she is as a, you know. She would never accept it. What's stopping her

shouldn't be the money. What's stopping her should be the rest of the movie. I don't want to go. No, like not this silly money thing that somehow. Yeah, and also the rest of the movie. What we know. My children hate me. This silly money thing that somehow. And also the sort of like I'll fuck it up. I always do.

I'm no good. She should have fucked up the last wedding to give us a precedence for fucking up the next one. I wish that there was some sort of escalation that happened at the first wedding that obviously was a mess for many reasons that Ricky was part of. That kind of like oh we shouldn't invite her to the next one.

Frontier Air, $166. RT? Round trip? Round trip. Probably cheaper. From Tarzana to Indianapolis? But you have to lay over in Vegas. But that's okay. I love Vegas! Ricky loves Vegas.

Ricky's a high roller. The two things about the wedding that I liked are the Audra McDonald, are the Audra McDonald. Again, Audra McDonald, a great moment. And she doesn't even speak in that scene, which is sort of awful. But whatever. She gets like, they are sure to cut to her to make you understand that she is giving her permission for this to happen. Right.

Like she must have, like Lindsay was saying, she must have been consulted in some way. Because she sits down sort of anticipating what is about to happen. And I like that and I'm going to go ahead and just because this is the the demi season I'm going to go ahead

and compliment the the audience response to her playing I think is like deliciously uncomfortable and that's so that's such a believable

wedding moment where it's like that's what I was about to say it's such a wedding thing because like because you've got half of the people or 20% because you've got half of the people or 20% of the people

30% of the people feeling this one way and the rest of the the guests are like I don't I'm not in on this joke I don't know what's happening here

because all they know is that she's this deadbeat mom that no one likes and that she's like so it's like there's something sort of fun

about the fact that her final performance isn't 100% triumphant. It's strange. It's weird. And it's uncomfortable. But it's played as triumphant. Yeah.

Sort of. Okay. In a way, yeah. It ends on a happy day. Ricky feels comfortable. Ricky's like, I did a good thing. The kids are on stage. The kids are like, you did a good thing.

She gets to sing a cold one, her single. When it's over, I still leave it feeling, which is I think the intent. You leave thinking like, well, she's not going to see that family for 10 years. She's not going back for 10 years or anything.

She might call a little more often than she did before, but she's not going to get it together. This is not the beginning of a 100% different Ricky. Of course not. And I appreciate the fact that it doesn't try to

suggest that it is. Yeah. Like, mom is bad or whatever. Exactly. It's just, this is what she can contribute and maybe

it'll just be a little bit more difficult. No one is hearing from Ricky until she is like, you know. I mean, Audra is the bigger person. She sends the letter.

The letter is really sweet. Yeah. Like, the letter is really like, she doesn't deserve the letter. The letter is a great letter. Yeah. She does not deserve that letter. Audra McDonald definitely

that is the letter she would send. David's poking at my phone. What's up? You did a sort of a... I checked my text. I'll leave it up here. It doesn't matter. It's a nice yellow. David's asking me to read text on your phone. I'm sorry. I was just being silly. Can you flip it over? I should have gotten the yellow.

I like the yellow more. You have like the sea green, sea foam. Oh yeah, you've got the pro. We see that you have the pro. Three cameras on that one? What do you need the third camera for? I'm happy with two. Unlike Kevin Kline over here,

I'm happy with just two cameras on my phone. Kevin Kline. Where's a couple of Rickys over here? I wish I could do a Kevin Kline so I could then couple Rickys over here? I wish I could do a Kevin Kline so I could then be like, whoa, it's a better portrait mode.

I could like, just to play. And the Kevin Kline, Kevin Kline's very good in it. He's like, sort of an afterthought. He's barely, he barely does anything,

but he's good. Right. And one thing that I've been dumping on Meryl's performance for so long, but I'm not really dumping on a performance, I'm more dumping on the idea

of her being even in this, the fact that she was cast. But I believe that the, to go fact that she was cast but I believe that the to go back to that fridge scene yes I believe

that Meryl and Kevin Klein were together I believe that 100% I mean they were in Sophie's Choice which I love anytime

two actors are able to reunite and play completely different from their totally different vibes previous iconic but still have the spark and there's real there's real spark between both Meryl and Rick and Meryl and Kevin and play completely different from their previous iconic. Totally different vibes, but still have the spark.

And there's real spark between both Meryl and Rick and Meryl and Kevin, and I'm like, that's something. Well, Ricky is like this manic pixie dream girl almost. Like she's kind of like this like magic person in a weird way, you know? And that's what I think is like. But the Diablo Cody version of that, which is like, yikes. Yeah, right. But that's like what makes it kind of fun where it's like what was Linda like I need to

know like what was Linda like you can see how even if this guy was always more straight laced and stuck up when he was in his 20s and 30s he found it a lot more charming yes and you can also see how like Rick Springfield on the wrong end of 60 would now go

this is what I want. Yes. Like I've gone too crazy. But he looks 31. He spent all of his money on like eye work, so. It's so distracting. You know what's another

beautiful moment? When he's really stoned and his head is in her lap. Yeah. And she says, are you really this tired or were you just looking for an excuse to touch me?

Yes. And then he doesn't like freak out. Right. He like looks up and he like touches her face. Yeah. And then he doesn't, like, freak out. Right. He, like, looks up, and he, like, touches her face and puts his hands on her a couple times in as unsexual a way as possible, gets close to her,

and then steps away and just, like, stands looking at the fridge. He kind of does, like, he, like, touches his head. He, like, good Kevin Kline, I think. But he does this admission of, like, that's what I wanted to do. I am not going to go further than this.

No. I am not cheating on my wife. Good guy. This isn't a moment of temptation. Meryl will, of course, misinterpret this as he's still in love with me. But the moment is he's with someone who he once loved enough to marry and have three children with. And he's remembering. And she's fun.

And he remembered, oh, she's so fun. We got stoned. And this was a part of my life when I was young that I really sometimes miss. But the fact that he has his own line that he stops himself and not even a like, we shouldn't be doing this. It's so good. And that next scene, I mean, we've talked at length

about Audra McDonald's scene with her in the guest room, which by the way, Lindsay mentioned this when we were watching and it was like, that house would have had a proper guest room. It wouldn't have been like a study slash guest room. I would agree. It's a pretty big home. That guest room is so- They would have had a guest room. It's not an ensuite.

Here's, all right. An ensuite. Is Mamie in the guest room, I guess? Mamie had her own room. That house is- She has her own room. That house,

that's a six bedroom house. That's family's own house. That is a six bedroom, three to four bathroom. We saw the exterior. It's a six bedroom house. Mamie's room has an NSYNC poster still in it.

Yes. Right, they left it as it was. The scene before that scene, the breakfast scene, I think is like, wonderfully tense. Like,

it's so, it's so good. And like, it's like, it's that realization that she has like, oh, I'm an intruder.

Like this, I don't belong here. This is so strange. Another scene I really like on that sort of note is when she walks in through the kitchen and is running her hand along all the appliances, like checking out all the new appliances they have, but also all the shitty like art they have. Oh, the weird dog Warhol that you were obsessed with? Oh, yeah. The dog Warhol. The dog Warhol. That horrible dog. Oh, perfect. A perfect like suburban you were obsessed with? Oh, yeah. The dog Warhol. The dog Warhol.

That horrible dog. Oh, perfect. A perfect suburban. Yeah, they have a bad dog. Rich suburban dog. That ugly poodle. That weird series of wood signs that it has. Like Cracker Barrel signs.

Cracker Barrel signs. All the Cracker Barrel signs. She's like, oh, this is your life now. It's so lame. She's scoffing at those while also coveting every like appliance she touches. The bath. Right. She loves a bath.

Then you go back to her apartment. She can't believe it has a bathtub. She's like shocked about the bath. A bathtub. Well, her apartment is, leaves much to be desired. You know, it's not the best apartment I've ever seen. But you have these brief moments of like real kind of like intimacy and poignancy. And then so much of it just feels so kind of sitcom-y.

Right. While also lacking big jokes or big emotional catharsis. What's the biggest laugh? I was about to say, is there a laugh in this movie? I mean, I think you know what it is. A couple of Mamie's moments kind of make me laugh. Like her sort of, I need a donut. And then also, what was the other one I wrote down?

Was when she says, I need a donut. Oh, oh. I don't know if this is a laugh, but it was like a, I don't know how to feel about this line. When the son says, I was born gay. And she says, I was born Ricky. Incredible. I don't know what to make of that. I know that line where I'm like, I don't know that that means anything.

But, I mean, you had it in your back pocket. But I also believe that Ricky would say that. And then the family would have said, did he use you? Well, the family's like, what? What? Okay, whatever. Typical Ricky.

I was born Ricky. Yeah. I need a donut. I need a donut. I don't mind this movie. I think it's all right. I had a good time watching it the second. I agree.

I agree with most of the flaws being pointed out. I'll say this. We're going to do a bonus episode. We haven't decided exactly what it is, but it's probably going to be the Justin Timberlake thing since it's the last time watching it the second half. I agree. I agree with most of the flaws being pointed out. I'll say this. We're going to do a bonus episode. We haven't decided exactly what it is, but it's probably going to be the Justin Timberlake thing since it's the last time we've done it. Something more, further acknowledgement of some of the documents.

You have to do it, and you have to compare it to his past work. You'll love it. You'll love it. Because especially doing that after Ricky, and looking back, because we're looking at Ricky compared to all of his past work,

and being like, what happened? That's the ultimate what happened of what got him to this point. I think so. I think we should do it. I'm going to watch it. If it doesn't feel like it's worth doing, we'll do something else. We'll do our rankings there. He made so many docs. Bang, we'll do our rankings there.

He made a lot of films. He did. And watching this, I was like, this might be his worst film. If this is the worst film you've ever made, you're pretty good. Come in! That was my question. No, Ricky is not even close to his worst film. Which, if this is the worst film you've ever made, you're pretty good. Come in! That was my question. No, Ricky is not even close to his worst film. What's his worst film?

Come in, a master builder. But I would also say that, you know, like Crazy Mama and Fighting Mad. I like Crazy Mama and Cage Tee far more than this. This one is just disappointing and I blame him for a lot of it. Sorry.

That's more of my thing. A lot of these decisions that we're talking about are him. I blame her. I don't blame him at all. I think she hijacked this movie. You blame Meryl. I blame Meryl for all of this. I just am thinking about Diablo versus him.

I feel like he took her over. Diablo, throughout the script, certainly did not write it for Meryl. There's no way. I just think that like Meryl and Demi she has this line where she's like I mean I thought about her

like it's sort of like kind like Meryl and Demi took this movie and just kind of hijacked it and I would like to believe that Diablo is

I don't know perceptive enough to have like once she heard that Meryl was attached she was like fuck like I feel like if you wrote this movie

and you found out Meryl was if you believe this movie, fuck. I feel like if you wrote this movie and you found out Meryl was if you believe this movie, you're like, god damn it. But also, it's like, oh, it'll get me. Because I'm sure Diablo has five scripts that are floating around. If I ever meet Diablo Cody, I'm going to ask about Ricky and the Flash. I'd love to read her script that got everyone attached. But this is also Demi's

first studio film in 11 years. Rachel getting married felt like him sort of being liberated. Yeah. And then he makes Master Builder which is probably his worst movie.

I'm never watching it but great. He never had the sort of like I mean Master Builder it was like Wallace being like dad John you shoot

that's three days. And he's like oh sure Wallace. I can't wait to not watch this movie and listen to your episode about it. It really sounds like

there's a lot of slapstick going on. It's a great episode. It's about 40 minutes on Playmobil. But, uh... Master Builder? Oh, Julie Haggerty?

Julie Haggerty's actually very good. She ain't bad in that one. Wait, a Master Builder's on Criterion Collection? It's on the Criterion Collection. He's like, I would be watching this. It was inducted into the collection and definitely not as a favor. Is it on the channel?

I believe it is on the channel. Oh, yeah, I can watch it. It's on the channel. It's on the channel. Master Builder. Master Builder Challenge. It gets tens of views a channel. It's on the channel. Master Builder. Master Builder Challenge. It gets tens of views a year. I'm making TikToks about Master Builder.

Do not feel obligated to finish watching that movie. I will say Master Builder Challenge. Okay. So she's in this too. Lisa Joyce. So is she related? Is she in the family? In the Jonathan Demme family?

I don't know. I think it's just him liking to use the same people. He really loved her in that movie. Yeah. Okay. Like in the interviews he did about Master Builder, he was like, Lisa Joyce, what a star. Right,

and she plays the... She plays the new wife. Who works in traffic. She's not the Master Builder. And has the stickers. Yes. Okay. No,

Wallace Shawn's the Master Builder. He's the Master Builder. And I'll say this, I'll issue a Master Builder challenge, much like you can't eat more than five saltines in a row. I don't think you can watch more than 10 minutes of a Master Builder. I'll try. I'm betting that two shots... I think you can't eat more than five saltines in a row. I don't think you can watch more than 10 minutes of a master building.

I'll try. I'm betting. I think you can make. I'm going to give it the thing about master builders. Bobby will do it. I won't do it. There's so many things I haven't watched, but now I'm like,

now that I've been dared, I'm like, well, I'm going to fucking watch it right when I get home. The thing about it is, I won't do it. I won't do it. There is probably.

You said I can't watch master builder. There might be 15 minutes of that movie you could watch, but the first half hour is such an incredible challenge. It would still get a Netflix rating if it still counted if you watched only 10 minutes of it. That's right. You get a high five. More people have watched the Master Builder than watched the Irishman. All right, let's play the boxes. No, I just want to say in summation, I feel like, and maybe it's because we're sentimental at this point.

We've been covering this guy for months. I love the man. This is the ostensible end of the journey. But I see so little of him here and the things that work all seem to have his fingerprints on them. That I think he's getting lost in a combination of Meryl and possibly also Tom Rothman, who was notoriously very controlling at Fox, very domineering and sort of micromanaging of everything, even just to the visual scheme of the movie. I mean, the thing we're talking about where it's like every set is too big, every scene

is too bright. I do think like the only Meryl version of this movie that could have worked had to cost less than $10 million. And it was Meryl agreeing to be in a Jonathan Demme movie rather than Meryl hiring Jonathan Demme to do a Meryl comedy. Master Builder is on Criterion. You plus it, you add it to the list. God, stop. You should make your own playlist called Bobby's Dares.

I'm going to dare him to watch the movies that he should actually be watching. Let's play the box office game. Dares. Bobby's book of dares? I'm going to, like, dare him to watch the movies that he should actually be watching. I can't wait. Let's play the box office game. We're going to talk about the top five at the box office on August 7, 2015. Because most of those Meryl comedies were July or August. Yeah. And this got put there. Classic Demi model was more to premiere it at a festival, say Venice or, you know, whatever,

and then give it an awards play, but clearly maybe because of what you're saying or just because they saw the movie and they're like yeah we don't know. It didn't get the awards. I believe it premiered at Locarno. It did premiere at Locarno which I've never been. Neither? I'm sure it's nice. It's in the Alps or whatever. Alright. Number one at the box office.

It premiered in the Alps. It premiered right in the Alps. They projected it onto the Alps. It's an entry in a long-running franchise. I believe it is your favorite. Is it my favorite in the franchise? In this franchise. In 2015? Yes.

It's not... In its second week, it's made $107 million total. It's a big hit. Is it Dawn of the Planet of the Apes? Nope. It's made $107 million total. It's a big hit. Is it Dawn of the Planet of the Apes? Nope. Hmm. It's made $107 total. It's on its way to a worldwide gross of almost $700 million.

Wow. Jeez. Where is it in the franchise? Fifth. Last? No. No. Oh, no.

$700 million. Yeah. That's fifth. It's the fifth in this franchise. Well, it's not Transformers. No. Oh, no. $700 million. Yeah. That's fifth. It's the fifth in this franchise. Well, it's not Transformers. No. No, because it's... Which the fifth was the last.

Right. Unless you're counting spinoffs. Right. And Cogman is a psychopath. Of course. Fifth in a franchise. It's my favorite. It's your favorite.

This is pretty easy. Wow. This is pretty easy. Well, I said, because I said it's your favorite. I said it's the fifth in a franchise. Like, what's a franchise we talk about? I know, but it's not Fast 5. I'm trying to think of franchises that peak at

5 for me. Yeah, I mean, Fast 5 definitely peaks at 5. I mean, Fast and Furious. I feel like this should be easy, too, and I don't know either. How many movies get to 5? Is it live action or animated? Live action. There's been 6 and there's more on the way. There's more on the way. There's been 6. there's there's more on the way there's more on the way

there's been six there's been six it's not a horror franchise nope it's an action franchise it's an action franchise and this one's my favorite

and this one's my favorite the fifth of all films right but you're right Fast Five is the other that's I mean I don't know

how many other series that's why I'm trying to think. It's so rare. That's what's stumping me here. Okay, is it like a star-driven franchise? There's one person in all of them. Yes. Big star.

Male or female? Male. Male. Shocker. A big male star. Yeah, can you believe it? What? A blockbuster Hollywood franchise.

You're telling me? Built around the charisma of a leading man. Well, look, I've watched Tootsie and there are no good parts left from that. Okay, the fifth film. Your weirdest thing is constantly picking at that plot point. It's insane. From a film from 1982 or whatever.

And they put it on Broadway recently and they were like, no, it's still the time for Tootsie. They put it on Broadway and everyone was like, did you change it? And they were like, oh, not really.

And they were like, okay, well, you probably should have. No good parts for men. No one's writing parts for men. Come on now, Griffin. Fifth film. What's an action franchise? What's an action franchise?

Just give me some. I'm furious. I'm like drawing a blank. All right. It's not John Wick. There are only three. This film introduced. No, I mean, it wasn't her first performance.

Bobby, guess. What is it? Is it a Bourne? No. Then, yeah, I don't know. This film introduced an actress, I don't know. This film introduced an actress, I would say, as a star. And it's a big sort of star-making performance. Oh, oh, oh.

Oh. Is it Mission Impossible? It's Mission Impossible Rogue Nation. Oh, wow. Of course. It is my favorite. That's your favorite one? No question.

Because of Rebecca Ferguson. Oh, my God. Because of Russell Faust. She's good. Wait, that's so obvious. It's very obvious. That's why I was kind of surprised. I was like, how many action franchises are there?

Five is just like, five isn't the best. No, of course. What's your favorite? Fallout. One and six are my favorites. Mission Impossible 1, Mission Impossible Fallout. There's a case to be made for Fallout. Five, six, four.

One, six. Three, one, two. And then only, six and one are second only to seven and eight, which I'm certain are going to be the best ones. Seven and eight are going to be so good that they get to be like their own country. Ghost Protocol is the only one I've seen in theaters ever,

so loved it. Loved it. I was so stoned. Rogue Nation, I will say, I've seen it a million times. I love it. The opera sequence. The only movie I don't like in that series is two.

Yeah. That's fine. Everyone agrees it. The opera sequence. The only movie I don't like in that series is 2. Yeah. So that's fine. I think, right. Everyone agrees. Yeah, everyone agrees. You're going to have a lot of fans screaming for love. 10 minutes as you didn't know. None of us knew.

Interesting that 5 is your favorite. Unquestionably. Number 2. I think 5 is like perfect. At the box office. Yeah. Is I think maybe my least favorite movie of the year. We've talked about it on this podcast.

We had an episode. We've covered it. It's new this week, opening to 25, which is a colossal disappointment to its studio. Is it Fantastic Four? Yes.

The Josh Trank. Ricky came out the same week as these two movies? That is correct. Ricky, by the way, is opening at number 7. Rogue Nation's in week 2. Fantastic Four is opening the same week as that is correct Ricky by the way is opening at number 7 Rogue Nations in week 2 Fantastic Four is opening the same weekend I think Fox was hoping Fantastic Four would open to what 60 70

you know like a big healthy I remember them being like oh it might bomb this weekend with 40 or 50 like that was the story and then it opened to 25 who was in that Fantastic Four we've got Miles Teller okay so this is not the Chris Evans one

was 10 years prior exactly we've got Michael B. Jordan we've got Kate Mara we have Jamie Bell as the thing Toby Kebbell Toby Kebbell

as the Doom Reggie Caffey Reggie Caffey it's got a weirdly good cast Tim Blake Nelson great cast Reggie Caffey as Franklin Storm

so did Ricky in the Flash what were other movies that could have that took Ricky's who took Ricky's Tim Blake Nelson. Great cast. Reggie Catley as Franklin Storm. So did Ricky in the Flash. It's got a score by Philip Glass. That took Ricky's... Who took Ricky's... These didn't take Ricky's spot. Are there any Ricky adjacents? What other Ricky movies are there on the list? Because it feels like this is a time of year where Ricky should pop.

Yeah, where's the other heartfelt family classics? I'm sort of looking down the list. Adult dramedies. Yeah, give me something that's not... I mean, Mr. Holmes is chugging along. Okay. In terms of family, Mr. Holmes is chugging along. Okay. In terms of family, you know. Mr. Holmes would quietly.

Pixel is sitting there at number nine, earning. Okay. Okay, well, what's number three? Yeah, all right, number three. Number three is also new this week and was sort of a surprise hit. It's like a sort of a horror drama, like kind of like a thrillery, you know, like a dark. Is it the... I'm forgetting the name of it now, but the Edgerton movie?

Yes, The Gift. Okay, The Gift. Good movie. I couldn't remember if it was The Gift or The Box, but The Box is Richard. And you know, another good, fucked up Jason Bateman performance. A good word of mouth. Everyone was talking about it. I had to see The Gift. Edgerton really did. I was like, I gotta go see it.

It made $60 on a $5 million budget. You know, like it was a... And I think that was the first STX release, maybe? Very early STX release. Very Blumhouse, but not Blumhouse, I guess? I think it was.

It was Blumhouse. But it just wasn't universal. It was Blumhouse before Blumhouse was like exclusively with... It's very Blumhouse. Yeah. And then, of course, Joel Edgerton went on

to make Boy Erased, a film we all saw, remember, talked about all the time on to make Boy Erased a film we all saw remember talked about all the time I love Boy Erased did you guys watch The Loudest Voice the scene where Russell Crowe

throws a cake at someone it's pretty good no but that was the best performance in a miniseries in a miniseries or a movie I cannot believe

Boy Erased is like literally erased for 48 hours just to talk about Boy Erased oh you mean like when he goes to the camp for like three days? He goes to the camp and he's like, this sucks.

And then they're like, you know what, it does suck. You're leaving. And then I was like, what? Yeah, and the miseducation of Cameron Post, she's there for a damn season at the very least. That's a miseducation. Nicole Kidman is at a Hampton Inn a block away. Yeah, she's right over there. He goes to the Hampton Inn every night.

He's barely erased. He doesn't sleep at the boy erased. I'm allowed to say this. Right, I was going to say this poor person's trauma. I'm allowed to jump on this bullshit movie slash bullshit memoir. As a sandwich like that. I'd like to see a boy actually get erased. Listen, sir, I know boys who've been erased. Stop.

Number four. Isn't that one of those weird movies like Hacksaw Ridge where all but the lead actor are Australian, even though it's not set in Australia? Is it? Is it an American story? Am I wrong about that? Because Troye Sivan, not American.

Xavier Dolan is not American. Right, but like Kidman, Sivan, Crowe, and Edgerton are all Australian. Yeah, and Joe Alwyn, he's English, right? Right. But like Hacksaw Ridge. But then Flea. Flea.

Hacksaw Ridge, every one other. But that was shot in. That's my question. Is there some Australian film tax rebate thing going on with Boy Erased? Is there a reason why he put so many Australian movie stars in it? They shot it in Georgia. Where? Georgia.

That was the time when there was lots of movies about boys being erased. A lot of boy movies. Beautiful boys. There was a beautiful boy. And of course, we all remember that Ben came back. Ben came back. Ben came back. Beautiful boy. Yeah, there was too much. Beautiful Ben was erased. Ben was back. A great movie that did not get as much attention

as it should have. You're saying you like Ben. Yeah, we like Ben. You got two big Ben is back defenders over your mouth. We love Ben here now. When Ben comes back again at the end, the second time he comes back. That's the twist. I guess. He comes back twice.

It's good. We got a couple Ben is backers over here. We love Ben is back. We do. He comes back twice. Twice? You should.

The movie doesn't say Ben comes back twice. A guy named Ben should run for president and maybe have sort of a fallow period. In Iowa, he comes back. And he comes out and he's like, Ben is back, baby!

The Iowa crowd loves a Ben is back guy. They fucking love it. You want Ben is back jokes? Listen to Who Weekly. That's where they all are. Have I shown you? Of course I haven't shown you this picture. I got a text from a mutual friend of ours who was at his gym.

Oh, I love this pic. And it was a, you know, you don't take photos of someone at a gym. Don't. YMCA was YMCA. Ever, ever, ever. Okay. Not cool. And he's on a, you know, a treadmill or something.

And he's taking a photo of someone else in front of him on a treadmill. Empty gym. The photo has one person in it. And it's the person's back. And they're on the treadmill. And they're wearing a Ben is Back hoodie, like a production crew hoodie. A Ben is Back production hoodie. And he says spotted at my gym, like

do you think they worked on Ben is Back? And I was like haha, well that's like clearly like a crew hoodie he must have worked on Ben is Back wait a second, that's Peter Hedges. 100% Peter Hedges. Wow. That's Peter Hedges. Proudly working out wearing Ben is Back. And then I sent him the photo of Peter Hedges and I was like, is this the man you saw?

And he was like, yeah, that's absolutely the man I saw wearing the Ben is back hoodie at my gym. That is so sweet. It's cute. That Lucas Hedges' father would wear crew memorabilia from his son's movie. Well, didn't he write Ben is back? Oh, I forgot he directed it. He directed it. Less cute.

No, but it's still funny. I still think it's pleasant for a moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, oh, imagine seeing Peter Hedges wearing like a Waves t-shirt. Ben is back. No, it's still sweet. It's cute regardless.

It's still cute. Peter Hedges. It's still cute. I always forget, right, that that's... He came back a second time. It was unexpected, but he came back again.

Getting derailed on Ben is back. Number four. Oh, God. How are we still? Oh, we're almost done. Is a reboot slash sequel of a comedy, sort of a dormant comedy franchise. The Vacation? Vacation.

With Helms? Yeah. That's a bad movie. Give me the final total on that one. 25? No, my friend. It made 58 domestic. 102 worldwide.

It's a stinker weekend. It is kind of a stinker weekend. I saw Ricky at the Cobble Hill Cinema with my roommate. We were just like, let's go see a movie. We were kind of like, perfect Ricky. We had to really scroll.

I was like, oh, Ricky and the Fly. It kind of just came and went. Ricky at Cobble is a classic. That's where I saw Home Again. I also saw Home Again at the Cobble Hill Cinema and the fly literally flew in front of the lens. I was one person there. The other person was Lindsay Robertson.

Me and Lindsay Robertson, yeah. What's a good number five? I was going to say, I remember this is the August where Mission Impossible was number one for like three or four consecutive weeks because everything was flopping. Everything was just kind of not connecting. Because Mission Impossible opened well, but not humongous, but then multiplied because it was just like the only fucking thing. Nothing could touch it.

You know what's coming down the pike next week is Straight Outta Compton. Another surprise summer hit that year. A big hit. The number five is a Marvel movie. It's a Marvel movie now riding out its... Yeah, it's been out for a month. It's made 150.

2015, so it would have been a July film? They sullied it, yeah. They sullied it. They did it in July. Why am I not thinking of the obvious thing it is? It's not a Captain America. It's not a Thor. Is it a first film?

Yes. Is it the Spider-Man? No, but it does feature one of the stars of what I assume is 2020's biggest box office hit, Ghostbusters Afterlife. Oh, God. Oh, it's Ant-Man. It's Ant-Man. Some other movies. What a killer replica.

It has a gunner seat? Oh, my God, a gunner seat? That's my favorite part of the original Ghostbusters. It's the gunner seat. Minions is hanging out in the top ten. You got Trainwreck. Everyone remembers. That was a huge hit.

LeBron James is in it. It's a movie. It came out. My favorite movie. I love Trainwreck. Pixels, as I mentioned. A film you love. I do love it.

Sandler vehicle. Brian Cox's performance is incredible. Josh Gad fucks Q-Bert. Josh Gad fucks Q-Bert. As Doe Boys likes to remind all the time. Kevin James is the president of the United States. Kevin James is the President of the United States. Kevin James is the President of the United States. The premise of that movie,

apart from the video game characters that invade America, is that Adam Sandler is friends with Kevin James. I'm like, I get that. That's fine. And he happens to be President of the United States. Sure, I buy that. But take it as a given. And Brian Cox is Adam Sandler's father.

No, no. Brian Cox is like the secretary of defense. Sure. And he keeps screaming at everyone. Does someone play Sandler's father in it? Yeah, Q-Bert. No, I don't know. I don't know.

Okay. Wait, Josh Gad fucks Q-Bert. He does. They have like children. Josh Gad. Is Josh Gad a human or is he a human? Josh Gad. He is a human.

No. Josh Gad is a human. He fucks Ashley Benson. Ashley Benson turns out to be Q-Bert in an Ashley Benson disguise. What? But then do the babies look like Ashley Benson or Q-Bert? Should I see this movie? Probably.

Okay. It's a great movie. That sounds dark. I've forgotten the look of Pixels. Is it half live action, half animated, or is it all CGI? It's live action with CGI. So Adam Sandler is Adam Sandler. He plays like a guy.

Pixels is Ghostbusters. I gotta see this movie. But video game. Adds it to your Criterion collection. Wait, no, baby. Is it on Criterion? The idea of the aliens is somehow like interpreted video game signals as like something we'll understand. It's like a reverse galaxy quest where the evil aliens

are like we're gonna attack you with your media okay so they attack we deserve that earth with like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man

with like characters from the leftovers and like all the things that we love ew the baby Q-Berts pixelated 80s wait but they don't look anything like Josh Gad

they just look like Q-Bert yeah well you know Q-Bert the genes are so strong yeah god the last thing we need are powerful Josh Gad genes. Thank God.

Cupid overpowered. Cupid genes are like Bruce Willis genes where they'll override all the demi-mort. You know? Oh, I gotta see this movie. Okay.

You gotta see it. After we finish, I'll show you. Please, keep going. Isn't it just an episode of Futurama? I'm really sorry. It is very similar.

It's ripped off from Futurama. Pixels was a short film that someone made, and I use the term short film very loosely. It's just much ripped off from Kisarama. Pixels was a short film that someone made, and I use the term short film very loosely. It's just like they're falling from the sky. Correct. It was just good. It was a good animation.

It was a visual effects showreel. It was like I believe the person was like an aspiring visual effects artist, and he made it, and it was just like, what if Space Invaders was in the real? Right, and it went viral, and then there was this massive studio bidding war, and he got paid millions of dollars for the short I respect

that and had no stake in the movie or no involvement in the movie right and it was everyone being like do we do it as a serious drama do we do it as a comedy and it became Adam Sandler trying to do Ghostbusters with Chris Columbus and it did well Adam Sandler coming back to a suicidal daughter is like recovery period

Adam Sandler aka Ricky Rendeza it did recovery period. Adam Sandler, a.k.a. Ricky Rendezzo. It did alright, but it's also the last theatrical Happy Madison movie. That's when he fully discussed Netflix. No Uncut Gems, it was the last Adam Sandler movie to get a wide release. The ones before that hadn't done well.

It's PG-13. Everyone was like, this is going to be his comeback. It does like 80, and he was like, cool. I'm just sticking on Netflix. No, yeah. He was like, all right, I'll move on. I'll do a comedy special in a few years. That'll be great.

And we'll do the rest of it. I'll slowly get back to doing the things that people like to see me do. Anyway, that's it. Ricky. That was fun. Salute, John. Get ready for Ricky. We got ready.

We got ready. What a marathon. Imagine doing this type of podcast every week. I know. Jesus Christ. Well, you were saying before. We do ours twice a week and that's already, when we hit 40 minutes, we're like We were comparing notes before this, talking about

like, you folks do like 40 minutes twice a week, no guess. Yeah. Totally current events. We record for like 120. We cut it down to 30, 40. Sometimes we're not successful enough, but we try. That's like us. Our records are usually like 8, 8.5.

Yeah, yeah. And then we cut down to like 2.30, 2.15. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. But yes, and then you guys are very topical. Yes. Like you have to record the week of because you're recording on things for the last 48 hours. I mean, people claim you don't.

People like to go back and listen. I could listen to the Blank Check episode about Signs of the Lambs anytime. But I mean, for ours too, I think people go back and they like it as a time capsule. They get nostalgic. They also like, we do kind of go off topic. We do tell jokes. It's a little bit, it's topical, but

I think that we're surprised. I have a friend who just, I think, recently listened to your entire catalog straight through. That's wild. I love that. I know that it're surprised. I will say, I have a friend who just, I think, recently listened to your entire catalog straight through. That's wild. I love that. I know that it happens. I love it. I do that, though.

If I fall in love with a podcast, I'll do it. You want to hear him talking. You want to hear him talking. That makes me happy. I love to hear it. And it's funny to sort of wistfully look back upon the who's of yesteryear. Yes. Who are still not them.

It's a revolving door of who's. Yeah. Yeah, it's true. Here's a question.year. Yes. Who are still not them. It's a revolving door of who's. Yeah. Yeah, it's true. Here's a question. Sure. Sure. Answer. I just thought of this.

It's going to seem like I was laying out the runway for this, but this just hit me. Okay. We're recording this in January. Yeah. It is January. The episode will come out in March. Yeah, that's right. You always record topically.

Yeah, the episode comes out the next day. Yeah. Would you like to, on the record, since we have an eight week time capsule before this thing comes out, do you have a prediction of a who who might turn into a them in the next two months? No. There's no one who's that close? I just don't

the only, the thing that could like turn you into a them is like a big scandal. You almost can't anticipate it. A big scandal or a big movie. So are there two movies or an Oscar win? Like if something weird if like a win in an Oscar win is not already famous this year. And so it's like

Florence Pugh is not winning anything also. She's not going to suddenly be a them because of that. Like there's no Well, alright. But there's no like, there's no like Roberto Benigni character, you know? There's no like comical left fielder who's going to come out and stomp on... You know what I mean?

Like, suddenly that person isn't going to go, isn't going to happen. We need new Benigni. Did you see Benigni's doing a new Pinocchio? Yeah. Crazy. Taking another crack at it. But he's Geppetto this time.

He didn't direct it. I thought he already did that. Yeah. Oh, that's what you mean, a new Pinocchio. He's doing another one. He's doing another one. Huh. But, no, I actually...

I guess what you're saying makes sense. No, yeah. It's hard to... In the span of two months, it's doing another one. Huh. I guess what you're saying makes sense. It's hard to in the span of two months it's hard to predict. Right? Like that is the most that's a very short amount of time. And the people we are thinking of like the who's who exist like we know the pathway towards them-dom and like that's not just gonna

happen suddenly. And someone like Pew It would have to be someone who literally came out of nowhere. Sure. And someone like Pugh who is like so legitimate. It's still a slow burn. Exactly. She's going to play it smart.

She's going to take the incremental steps. Broadly, she seems like an overnight success, but none of these people ever really are. Of course.

Yeah. Like we're still thinking about Brie Larson as a who, to be honest with you. Yeah, that's interesting. Because like even though she, for a film lover. Well, we actually gave that a new verb

because she's larcening. She's larcening. She's larcening. That's when you're sort of in the zone. Where all the pieces add up to what should be of them, but it's like no one knows who she is. Right, like she still gets that when you're larcening, you have all the pieces, but nothing. But we're still kind of like She's the single star

of a billion dollar film. People could name Jacob Tremblay before they can name Brie Larson. Well, Tremblay's their... They'll be like, oh, the kid from Room. They see Brie Larson, they're like, ooh. Tremblay's one of our most consistent box office performers. Tremblay. That boy will drag your movie to $100 million.

His fucking teeth. I love him. I love Tremblay. Remember when he got disemboweled on screen this year last year what was the movie Bad Boys

oh I gotta see that reminds me I gotta see the life and the death and life of John Donovan Ray Donovan oh god

Ray Donovan someone told me there's a scene in that movie where Jacob Tremblay cause he goes he flies to London a lot to like do

auditions or something alone and there's a scene where Natalie Portman's like yeah he goes to London a lot to do auditions or something alone. And there's a scene where Natalie Portman's like, yeah, he goes to London sometimes for auditions. And no, it's not met with any questions. And it's like a child in New York. That movie, which I have not seen. It's the Vox Lux of 2020, baby.

I got it. I got it. It's played at several festivals. Johnny Donny. But it's like, you know that joke about how Michael Jackson in 1991, you could say anything about him

and people would believe it because he got so weird. That's what that movie is. You can say anything happens in that movie. There's a scene, Kit Harington fucks a walrus. And I'm like, yeah, it sounds right.

John Donovan, yeah. But the reason I bring it up is he's not dragging that to $100 million. I have anything. No, he's not. I mean, if he pulled that off, we should maybe think about him being in the cabinet.

And Dr. Sleep Bomb, too. I think he has to be in the top three build. Of Dr. Sleep? No, of any movie. You give him a good boys, you give him a wonder. He is pulling that thing across the finish line. I saw

I gave good boys money. Rental money. It's like you went to the theater to see good boys. Josh really wanted to see Good Boys. Why? It's almost disturbing. He really wanted to see it, and he liked it. I thought it was kind of a disaster. I think it's pretty mediocre, boys.

You couldn't pay me enough money to see a movie like that. Yeah, it's... Just the way that it's advertised. The ending is... I was saying I said the TV ending. I'm kind of like, oh, well, all right. You people wanted to see it. Did they all die?

It was a long... It was sort of a long-running joke where it's like, I gotta see that Good Boys because of the poster. They all lose their virginities? No, no one loses their virginity. Well, it's something involving a drone. To be honest, I forgot a lot about this. A lot of drone business.

There's so much drone. But 10 to 11 year olds probably do really like drones. Tremblay has one smooch. He's got one big smooch. Oh yeah, he gets the smooch. No, it's just at the end, they've been in a war with. Josh Gad does fuck you. Yeah, he does, of course. And they've been in a war with... Josh Gad cucks you. Yeah, he does, of course.

And they're in this little war with the teenage girls who are like 18 and want their Molly. And at the end of the movie, they show up to the kids and they're like, you kids are all right. You gotta figure it out. It's fine. But then they sort of grow apart. Oh, and then he starts dating the girl, then he gets broken up with the girl. Yeah, it's kind of a cute, funny ending.

The ending is good enough that it sort of just sold me on the movies. And the one boy sings, I want to know what love is. Which is nice. Which is kind of sweet. Lindsay, they cross a highway. Because the boys obsessed with Rock of Ages. Because they can't drive and they have to cross a highway. I'm so mad at this.

It's the kind of dumb shit. That's the funniest part of the movie. See, I'm remembering all these things. The Rock of Ages thing is pretty hilarious. It's pretty good. Wait a second. This movie probably made more money than Longshot, which was a legitimately good movie. See, I'm remembering all these things. The Rock of Ages thing is pretty hilarious. It's pretty good. Wait a second. This movie probably made more money than Longshot,

which was a legitimately good movie. It made more money than Ricky and the Flash. Longshot, a great movie. Young boys, big boys, bad boys, good boys, like easily swept it. For life.

Do you think they're going to do a sequel to Good Boys called Good Boys? Almost. Only if Tremblay comes back. I believe Good Boys was the highest grossing comedy the last two years.

Better Boys, Best Boys? Oh, like original. Yeah. What the fuck's that? Original live action comedy? Because it made like 95? I believe that. I believe just like I believe anything you say

about Pixels or whatever you're saying. John F. Donovan. I'll believe it. Maybe they're the same movie with two different titles released in different markets. Johnny Donny and Good Boys? And Pixels. We do need like a Vox Lux for 2020

that we need to get behind. I was going to ask. It's got to be Johnny Donny. It's got to be Johnny Donny. Because it's out. We can do need like a Vox Lux for 2020 that we need to get behind. It's gotta be Johnny Donny. It's gotta be Johnny Donny. Because it's out. We can rent it. Okay, we gotta do it.

Because we were, we did Starz, you know, we focus on film. We get obsessed with film. Johnny Donny seems absolutely perfect. Starz born was a big one. Vox Lux was a big one.

We needed a new one. We gotta work on that. And if Johnny Donny disappoints, maybe you go back and it's Pixels. If? If? What?

What are we doing here, Steve? Are we talking about Johnny? Let's wrap it up. Yeah, please. Bobby Finger. I was trying to find the... Oh, here we go. Lindsey Weber.

Yep. I was going to say thank you for being here. Thank you so much for being here. You're welcome. Everyone should listen to Who Weekly. It's the best. Two of you are the best. The two of you campaigning for Ricky.

Yeah. Weaponizing the Who Weekly army. Yep. Sorry. Gave us the gift of many months of Demi. We'll do it again. Many, many months of Demi. Which has been an incredibly pleasant run.

It's been fantastic. It's been wonderful. I've highly enjoyed it. Your fans are going to demand us back. Yes, no question. And then our fans are going to jump on it and we'll come back for, what's the worst movie that we could follow this up with? Let us know next time you do a poll.

Oh, we will. Let us know. We'll let you know. We'll choose the worst movie on the poll to do. I'm going to set alerts on your Twitter so I never miss a tweet from Blank Check. I feel like I want to when we finish recording show Bobby and Lindsay who is on the list right now and see who their pick would be. Hell yeah. I'd be curious.

Sign us up. Okay so let's finish recording the episode. All right. Is Good Boys the highest grossing comedy of the last two years? Would be. Hell yeah. I'd be curious. Sign us up. Okay, so let's finish recording the episode. All right. Is Good Boys the highest grossing comedy in the last two years? Well, it's classifying the upside as a comedy, which I think is kind of... That's unfair. I haven't seen it.

It's more of a drama. I think so. That's unfair. But right, in 2017, you had 200 million grossers. Girls Trip was actually not the last 100 million grossers. There's one after Girls Trip. You're forgetting that Daddy came home again.

He came home, too. Daddy again. He came home, too. Daddy came. Daddy's home, too. Fuck, that made a lot of money. It made a lot of money. It made 101. Wow. Daddy's home.

Oh, was it Will Ferrell and Mel Gibson? John Lithgow, yes. Wow. It was the four. We call them the quad. The quad. I don't know. The classic quad.

Daddy comes home, too. Ferrell. Wahlberg. Gibson. Lithgow. Wahlberg. Gibson. Lithgow. If ever. Mount Rushmore of comedy. If ever a comedy sequel.

We don't deserve good movies anymore. No, we don't. No, we don't. If that's the movie, we don't deserve good movies. It's shocking that we get any. Emily Yoshida's review of Daddy's Home To is a perfect, perfect piece of writing. But she just talks about, I know I'm not supposed to review the phenomenon surrounding a movie but I need to just

review what it's like watching an audience watch Daddy's Home 2 yeah if ever a comedy sequel demanded a comma T-O-O

and didn't get it it was Daddy's Home 2 Daddy's Home 2 alright we're done yeah thank you all for listening please remember to rate and review and subscribe

thanks to Angela for Guto for our social media. Joe Bone and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. Go to blankies.reddit.com for some real nerdy shit. We're throwing out a little bonus. We'll decide what it is later because we're recording this far in advance,

but we'll give you our final Demi thoughts and our rankings in that bonus episode, which will come out this Thursday. And we can announce this now. I guess we can. Next miniseries. Shit, I guess you're right. I mean, well, okay. Griffin, let me just say next week we're gonna do, it's our

next week is our fifth anniversary special. Oh, that's true. You're five years old? We're five years old. So are we gonna announce that too, I assume? We'll discuss it. Okay, fine. Jesus.

Something will... So look, let's just announce the next miniseries, and something will come out next week. All right, fine. I think we should announce the next miniseries. Okay. Go ahead. We're doing George Miller. That's right.

Yes. Ooh, that's fun. Demi Beat. Demi Beat. Yes. Was he the number two? How many movies? Like a ton?

Not many, right? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. For that one, you took a poll. For this one, you just decided. We just decided. Okay, love it. But he was number two in the last bracket. You feel, it felt like a good one.

Eight, I'm sorry. Eight! Eight films! A Gentleman's Eight. No, it has to be nine. It's eight. Eight? Eight?

Four of them are Mad Maxes. Four Mad Maxes. Two of them are Happy Feets. This cannot be eight. Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm, I was, it has to be not. It's eight. Eight? Eight. Four of them are Mad Maxes. Four Mad Maxes. Two of them are Happy Feets. This cannot be eight. Oh, no. I'm sorry. It's nine. I was missing the special episode that's...

Yeah, anyway. It's nine. Yes. A Babe sequel, two Happy Feet, four Mad Maxes. The Babe sequel. That's what I'm thinking. Lorenzo Zoyle, Witches of Eastwick. What a fucking weird filmography.

That's right. Very excited to get into it. Yep. Yes. And what are we doing for the fifth anniversary? We'll know by the time you listen to this. All right.

I figured that. Anyway, we can talk about it. Okay. We'll talk about it later. But thanks again for listening. Thank you, Bobby and Lindsay for coming on. Thanks for having us.

That was really fun. We will have you on again soon. And as always, those boys are just too damn good.